New Vermont workforce office outlines four goals, senators press to fill labor seats
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Summary
The state's Office of Workforce Strategy and Development described four statewide goals to increase worker supply, reengage adults, support business retention and boost graduate retention; senators pressed the office to confirm statutory labor representation and to show how it will drive strategy beyond acting as a "clearing house."
The newly created Office of Workforce Strategy and Development told the Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs Committee on Tuesday that it will focus the state's workforce efforts around four board-approved goals and build committees to measure progress.
"Act 146 of 2024 is what created the office of workforce strategy and development," Drake Turner, deputy director of the new office, told the committee, describing statutory changes that also reorganized the state workforce development board. Turner said the board was reduced to 27 members to improve agility and will set statewide priorities while the office coordinates implementation.
The board's four goals, approved in November 2025, are: increasing the supply of workers in key sectors (construction and trades, manufacturing, health care and social services, professional/business services, and leisure and hospitality); supporting adults to reengage and advance (including defining Vermont's "credentials of value"); helping businesses expand, relocate and stay in Vermont; and increasing postsecondary graduate retention.
Senators used the presentation to press the office on representation and strategy. "If we're talking about actually developing the workforce, I think it's really good to talk to our labor organizations," said Senator Ron Hinsdale, pressing the office to fill two labor-organization seats the statute intends. Turner said the office has received inquiries and will follow up and that it intends to "be fulfilling the letter of the law."
Other senators asked how the office will avoid becoming merely a clearing house for existing programs. One lawmaker said the description sounded like "a real passing of the buck." Turner and the committee chair responded that statutory design places strategy and oversight with the state workforce development board and the office is intended to coordinate, implement and execute the board's priorities. They pledged follow-up briefings and the rapid formation of subcommittees that will define success measures and key performance indicators.
Staff also told the committee they will begin standing up subcommittees immediately to determine what the board will track and how. The office said it will invite both board and non-board members to participate in these committees and will publish measures once they are developed.
What's next: staff said the board will meet four times in 2026 (with meetings planned in February, June, September and December) and subcommittees will begin meeting in the coming days; the office will report back on the status of required labor appointments and on the committee structure and metrics.