High-quality career pathways, including community college systems, are increasingly vital as the labor market evolves.

Why it's important: Aligning workers' skills with employer needs expands economic mobility and contributes to enhanced regional competitiveness, new business development, and reduced recruitment and training costs.

• For instance, increasing the share of working-age Americans with at least a bachelor's degree by 10% could lead to an annual GDP growth increase of almost one percentage point.*

The challenges: Insufficient resources, siloed policies, fragmented funding streams, difficulties collaborating and rapid labor market changes can make it difficult to create the necessary career pathways.

• Despite these challenges, the demand for improved career pathways has sparked innovation, leading to promising strategies that can be replicated to accelerate progress.

📍 Texas, with more than a decade of investment in high-quality career pathways, can serve as a blueprint for communities looking to develop integrated education and workforce systems.

• A new report from JPMorganChase explores five key insights from Texas' innovative career pathway strategies, including how the state enabled significant policy shifts — like Texas House Bill 8, a historic investment in the state's community colleges to boost student career outcomes.

Here's what's needed ➡️

1️⃣ Public-private partnerships.

Texas has demonstrated the importance of cross-sector collaborations between nonprofit organizations, government, business and philanthropic sectors.

• These partnerships are essential in aligning education and workforce systems.

2️⃣ Strong data infrastructure.

A robust data infrastructure is essential for supporting high-quality career pathways — especially enhancing the capacity of tech platforms to share data across systems.

• This infrastructure allows local intermediaries and to evaluate outcomes, inform policy recommendations and tailor programs to meet regional workforce demands.

3️⃣ Intermediaries developing leadership tables.

Intermediaries play a crucial role in engaging local stakeholders, including education institutions, business leaders and philanthropic organizations.

• Strong intermediary organizations ensure that strategies are data-driven, have broad buy-in and contribute to successful policy implementation.

4️⃣ Stakeholder involvement.

HB 8 reflects public feedback from local stakeholders convened and requested by the Texas Commission on Community College Finance.

• This inclusive approach ensures the funding model addresses the unique needs of various communities and institutions.

5️⃣ Workforce outcome-based funding.

HB 8 ties funding to measurable student career outcomes, such as earning credits of value, dual credit completion and successful transfers to four-year institutions.

• This aligns education with employer needs and incentivizes colleges to support students in achieving credentials that lead to family-sustaining wages.

How it's done: These insights showcase how local leaders can unite to create a visionary, integrated education and workforce system that broadens opportunities for individuals and communities.

⭐️ An example: Recognizing the need to improve career pathways, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board released the "Building a Talent Strong Texas" strategic plan for higher education in 2015.

• The goal: To have 60% of Texans ages 25 to 64 earn a degree certificate or other credential of value by 2030.**
• While many states have established similar goals, Texas' plan is notable because of the leadership provided by local and statewide organizations that collaborated to advance solutions.

A key player in this effort is The Commit Partnership, a coalition of more than 200 organizations in Dallas County focused on improving educational outcomes and workforce readiness.

• The Commit Partnership's progress in Dallas as well as input from other local leaders across the state has informed strategies developed by groups like Aim Hire Texas, a consortium of advocates, employers, nonprofit organizations, and education and training programs working to improve the Texas workforce system.

Together, the organizations brought employers to the table, including JPMorganChase, to inform alignment between labor needs and higher education in the region.

• JPMorganChase has been one of the business leaders supporting these efforts to build high-quality career pathways and strengthen Texas community colleges.

Here's what else: High-quality student-level data from key state agencies has provided the backbone to understand, analyze and respond to educational and workforce needs.

• Intermediary groups like Texas 2036 and The Commit Partnership utilize the data to address challenges, tailoring programs and championing policy changes that improve education and workforce outcomes.
• As a result, Texas has developed a comprehensive system that provides detailed, disaggregated data that equips stakeholders with the information needed to refine metrics and outcomes through data-driven decision-making.

🎓 The results: The work of these cross-sector collaborations, along with strong data infrastructure, have laid the groundwork for advancements in Texas' education and workforce systems.

Looking ahead: By aligning community college funding with workforce outcomes, Texas is pointed to drive state and regional economic growth, ensuring students are equipped with the skills and credentials needed to thrive in a rapidly changing labor market.

• By focusing on these opportunities for national replication, Texas not only strengthens its own workforce but also contributes to a broader movement toward innovative, effective workforce development across the country.

📄 Read the full report.

📍 Explore more ideas on reimagining the future of American communities.