Jobs and Skills Publications

Bridges are innovative approaches to skill delivery that help adults in need of basic skills or English Language Learning succeed in post-secondary training. Leading to career-path employment or further learning in a specific industry or occupational sector, bridges at Wisconsin’s technical colleges typically link basic skills development with occupational skills training and accelerate the transition from pre-college to college level work.

Wisconsin Bridges Case Studies profiles various bridge programs that are being piloted throughout the state. This case study discusses the Production MIG Welding Bridge at Chippewa Valley Technical College.

The case study was excerpted from full report. 

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Direct care workers labor in the homes of the elderly, frail, and people with disabilities, to provide them with critical hands-on care and support to lead independed lives.

This paper offers data on the in-home direct care workforce, wages and benefits in those jobs, and discusses issues related to working conditions and labor law. Information is provided on why low wages and benefits for in-home care workers are a social problem, not just a problem for individuals. Finally, key strategies to improve in-home direct care jobs are discussed.

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This report was released in conjunction with the Economic Policy Institute’s report documenting trends in employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) in the nation and states.

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The State of Working Wisconsin is a biennial report, produced by COWS, that offers a comprehensive review of the status of jobs and workers in Wisconsin. On alternate years, we produce a short update report instead of the full report. The State of Working Wisconsin is filled with data and analysis on jobs, wages, poverty, and income, as well as an account of economic inequality in the state.

The State of Working Wisconsin 2010 documents the impact of the Great Recession on Wisconsin workers.

Documents include Full Report and Executive Summary

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This report presents recent data and analysis on the educational and workforce challenges facing Wisconsin, and provides an overview of statewide efforts to meet this challenge by moving more working adults through the educational pipeline and towards family-sustaining careers. It focuses specifically on various initiatives called “bridges” that are being pioneered at technical colleges across the state to help low-income adults access and succeed in postsecondary training.

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From COWS and the Wisconsin Women’s Council, this report shows that despite the growing importance of women’s contribution to the labor force and to household incomes, the gender wage gap stubbornly persists irrespective of age, race, or level of education. In 2009, Wisconsin women earned, on average, only 81 cents for every dollar earned by men. Moreover, women continue to be concentrated in occupations that are low-wage and low-quality.

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Two years of discussion and research since COWS and partners released Greener Pathways: Jobs and Workforce Development in the Clean Energy Economy, we’ve concluded that developing a comprehensive, comprehensible map of “green” credentials is virtually impossible. And that impossibility motivates our interest in moving toward a more coherent national system. Greener Skills, our follow up to Greener Pathways, outlines an American skills agenda and calls for a better, stronger, greener workforce system to support it.

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Mapping Green Career Pathways: Job Training Infrastructure and Opportunities in Wisconsin outlines key components of the state’s workforce development systems – including but not limited to apprenticeship and technical college pathways – that could be aligned and expanded to support an emerging clean energy sector.

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Bridges are innovative approaches to skill delivery that help adults in need of basic skills or English Language Learning succeed in post-secondary training. Leading to career-path employment or further learning in a specific industry or occupational sector, bridges at Wisconsin’s technical colleges typically link basic skills development with occupational skills training and accelerate the transition from pre-college to college level work.

Wisconsin Bridges Case Studies profiles various bridge programs that are being piloted throughout the state. This case study discusses the Science/Math Developmental-Postsecondary Bridge at Madison Area Technical College.

The case study was excerpted from the full report.

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MGA (Midwestern Governors Association), report outlines strategies for job creation through state policy changes in the Midwest.

COWS’ Sarah White served on the Advisory Board that developed and wrote the platform.

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