Building America’s Infrastructure Workforce
Building America’s Infrastructure Workforce
Utilizing IIJA/BIL Funding to Meet Workforce Training Needs
Halfway through the implementation of the historic IIJA/BIL legislation, local and state leaders are underutilizing the law’s workforce funding potential.
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (IIJA/BIL) of 2021 is pumping more than one trillion dollars into physical infrastructure projects across the country, and many of the IIJA/BIL programs allow funding to be used for workforce development activities. But more than two and a half years after its passage, few places are using the IIJA/BIL’s formula or competitive funding to invest in their infrastructure workforce.
Because federal funding for workforce development most often flows from the Department of Labor rather than from the many federal agencies that now allow it in some of their IIJA/BIL programs, local and state workforce development and training entities may be unaware of this opportunity – or may not have relationships with the state transportation or other offices that receive the majority of IIJA/BIL dollars that allow allocations for workforce training.
However, there are models from cities and states across the country who are tapping the IIJA/BIL’s funding for workforce training, and there is still time for project owners and workforce training entities to connect with one another to realize the full potential of the IIJA/BIL’s funding to build a strong, diverse workforce necessary to complete today’s IIJA/BIL-funded infrastructure projects and provide family-supporting jobs and careers for years to come.
The Scale and Key Elements of IIJA/BIL for Workforce Training
Though not all of the $1.2 trillion authorized for transportation and infrastructure spending can be used for workforce development, a number of IIJA/BIL programs allow it. The Brookings Institution maintains a Federal Infrastructure Hub that includes a current listing of all IIJA/BIL programs and their potential qualification for workforce awards; in June 2024, 91 of the more than 500 IIJA/BIL programs listed there indicated the potential for workforce funding.
In a 2023 report, Brookings found that approximately 97 percent of the IIJA/BIL funding that allows workforce development activities flows through four federal agencies – the Department of Transportation (DOT), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Commerce (DOC), and the Department of Energy (DOE). DOT has the ability to distribute the lionshare (nearly 72 percent) of the IIJA/BIL funds that allow workforce development and has published guidance for use of formula funds for workforce training, highlighted best practices, such as setting apprenticeship utilization rates for public projects and providing financial assistance and childcare to apprentices, and created a checklist for applicants seeking to create strong workforce plans.
Many IIJA/BIL Programs Also Include Flexibility for Supportive Services
Acknowledging that workers cannot train for or stay in good jobs if they cannot meet basic needs such as access to childcare and transportation, President Biden issued an Executive Order in 2023 that directs every cabinet-level agency to determine how they can require, preference, or encourage federal funding applicants to provide supportive services, including childcare, for workers.
Several federal agencies have taken up the charge, and some IIJA/BIL programs include flexibility for supportive services. For example, the IIJA/BIL funding that flows through DOT includes flexibility for supportive services such as counseling, transportation, personal protective equipment, tools, and childcare in connection with workforce development, training, and education activities – inviting localities to re-imagine workforce training that centers supportive services in infrastructure workforce training programs.
Project Labor Agreements Are Encouraged
Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) are pre-hire agreements between one or more labor unions and project management that define the terms and conditions of employment, especially for large and complex construction projects. PLAs can ensure a reliable source of highly skilled workers to ensure timely completion of projects while also increasing diversity and improving worker health and safety on the job. For cities and states that receive IIJA/BIL funding, PLAs can support achievement of job quality and equity metrics.
The Biden-Harris Administration is encouraging use of PLAs among applicants for discretionary IIJA/BIL funds, and issued an Executive Order that requires federal construction contracts of $35 million or more to include PLAs. Research from the Center for American Progress shares additional details about PLAs, and highlights cities that have included PLAs in their IIJA/BIL-funded projects, and North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) offers additional information about PLAs.
Consider Local Workforce Development Boards as Partners
Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) can leverage dollars from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to further extend IIJA/BIL funds for project construction and workforce training needs; WIBs also often have long standing relationships and other philanthropic and privately funded programming that can serve as a springboard for new training funded through IIJA/BIL. Following are several examples of existing or planned infrastructure training program partnerships with WIBs:
In Louisville, KY, KentuckianaWorks partners with the Louisville Urban League and the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet to deliver Kentuckiana Builds, a six-week construction training program in which participants earn three national credentials.
In Syracuse, NY, CNY Works and CenterState CEO partner to deliver Syracuse Build, a suite of training programs to help residents gain access to pre-apprenticeship programs and credentials in high-demand sectors, including construction.
In Austin, TX, Workforce Solutions Capital Area is launching the Austin Infrastructure Academy to train residents in high-demand infrastructure-related skills, provide wraparound support services such as childcare, and connect residents to high-growth career pathways.
Accelerator for America is currently working in partnership with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau on the Leveraging Infrastructure Networks for Equity Initiative to increase access to emerging infrastructure and clean energy jobs; through this work, we expect to identify opportunities for closer connections between project owners and local workforce development boards, which can identify workforce needs resulting from IIJA/BIL-funded projects, develop necessary training programs, and connect job seekers to jobs on those projects.
Securing IIJA/BIL Funding for Infrastructure Workforce: What Cities and States Can Do
Many organizations have amplified the IIJA/BIL’s opportunities to expand access to jobs and economic opportunities through infrastructure investments. A small sample:
Markle, the Eno Center for Transportation and the National Association of State Energy Officials published a report outlining priority actions for states seeking to tap IIJA/BIL funds for transportation and clean energy projects.
The National Governors Association offers a suite of resources that outlines the IIJA/BIL’s workforce development options.
The Brookings Institution has promoted this topic extensively, highlighting why workforce development is crucial to new infrastructure and clean energy investments, offering rigorous analysis of the types of workers and workforce needs that should be targeted, and a convening of federal, state and local leaders to discuss strategies to tap this funding.
The Biden-Harris Administration has consistently encouraged state and local leaders to utilize IIJA/BIL funding for workforce activities, and recently called on states to invest at least 0.5 percent of their eligible federal highway formula funds, which total nearly $50 billion per year, to expand and diversify their construction workforces.
And yet – despite these efforts – many local communities and states are not yet taking advantage of the opportunity the IIJA/BIL presents to invest in their infrastructure workforce.
What can cities and states do to secure IIJA/BIL funding for workforce development?
Governors Can Issue Executive Orders or Directives
Governors in at least three states have issued new executive orders and directives that allocate a percentage of IIJA/BIL funding for workforce activities or promote the use of Project Labor Agreements.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed an Executive Order in July 2023, reserving at least three percent of all funding it receives from the IIJA/BIL and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to fund workforce development and on-the-job training, as well as investing as much as $400 million in workforce training over the next five years to create 10,000 new jobs.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore of Maryland signed an Executive Order in November 2023, promoting apprenticeship training programs, local hiring in high unemployment areas, and permitting state government units to require Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and community benefits agreements (CBAs) for projects where the state’s commitment is at least $20 million.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an Executive Directive in April 2024, calling for a statewide strategy that creates “clear pathways for target occupations, skill sets, and priority populations” and funds the training of 5,000 new infrastructure workers over the next six years by dedicating a portion (up to five percent) of the total federal funding received for each infrastructure project to workforce development initiatives.
Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Executive Directive 2024-1 on April 29, 2024 to help train 5,000 new infrastructure workers. Source
States Can Allocate IIJA/BIL Formula Funds
Approximately 80 percent of the IIJA/BIL funding that allows workforce development are formula dollars directed to state transportation and energy offices. Often, these offices do not have relationships with state and local workforce boards or training entities, and it can be a challenge for these organizations to “learn each other’s language” and envision how to maximize these funds for specific workforce training efforts. It is important for state and local leaders to make clear that investing IIJA/BIL dollars in infrastructure workforce is a priority, and several states offer models for replication:
Maryland’s Department of Transportation will invest $24 million in federal highway formula funding over six years to bring new workers into the skilled trades and fund training and supportive services that reduce barriers to employment for workers on multiple, large-scale transportation and water infrastructure projects in Baltimore.
Oregon has leveraged federal highway formula funds to offer supportive services to construction apprentices since 2009, and is using IIJA/BIL funding to double investment in its Highway Construction Workforce Development Program, including covering childcare costs of up to seven percent of household income (or up to $2,500 per child each month) and creating a new $1 million program to enable women returning from incarceration to directly transition into highway apprenticeships upon release. Oregon’s efforts are strengthened by a 2009 law that commits 0.5% of federal funds received by the Oregon Department of Transportation, up to an amount of $1.5 million annually, to on-the-job training and workforce development supportive services to increase diversity and prepare individuals interested in entering the highway construction workforce.
California has allocated funding from its highway formula funds to its High Road Training Partnerships Initiative for many years. In 2023, the California state legislature passed Senate Bill 150 requiring the California Department of Transportation to work in partnership with the California Workforce Development Board to support California’s High Road Construction Careers program, and reserve a minimum aggregate total of $50 million in IIJA/BIL funds over four years to support the program.
Cities can Tap IIJA/BIL Discretionary Funds
More than 20 percent of the IIJA/BIL funding that allows workforce development is being disbursed through competitive grant programs, offering cities a degree of flexibility not available through formula funding. Many IIJA/BIL Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) make clear that including workforce development components result in a more competitive application, but many cities have yet to seize this opportunity.
Philadelphia is one exception. The city appointed its first Director of Federal Infrastructure Strategy in October 2022 to lead an Infrastructure Solutions Team with a focus on using IIJA/BIL to build wealth for Philadelphia residents who have long been excluded from opportunity, especially people of color. Located in the City’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (OTIS), the Infrastructure Solutions Team regularly updates the community about the use of IIJA/BIL funding on a public-facing website.
“City leaders saw the IIJA/BIL as an opportunity to tackle Philadelphia’s physical infrastructure needs, create more pathways to meaningful work for unemployed and underemployed residents, and were really thoughtful about how to organize efforts to pursue that opportunity,” said Lily Reynolds, Director of Federal Infrastructure Strategy for the City of Philadelphia.
Philadelphia first proposed workforce development funding in a FY22 IIJA/BIL application for a $25 million “Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity” (RAISE) grant. After receiving that grant, which included $500,000 for workforce training and supportive services, Philadelphia decided to include workforce development funding in future IIJA/BIL grant applications that encouraged it. For example, in 2023 Philadelphia received $1.9M for workforce development as part of its $158 million FY23 “Reconnecting Communities'' implementation grant, and a $1.47 million “Ride and Drive Electric'' grant, which is fully focused on workforce development, from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation in 2024.
“Because so many IIJA/BIL NOFOs encourage applicants to include workforce development plans, our City department of transportation and Philadelphia’s local workforce board have become much closer, and are now innovating together to blend DOT and DOL funding to provide training and supportive services and bring more residents into the infrastructure workforce,” says Reynolds, who expects this relationship and their collaborative efforts to continue beyond the IIJA/BIL.
In 2024 the City and its partners, including Philadelphia Works, were awarded technical assistance from DOT’s Thriving Communities Program (TCP). The TCP assistance will support the City’s efforts to deepen engagement with community-based organizations that can connect job seekers residing in historically disadvantaged communities to employment opportunities on infrastructure projects, and enable the evaluation of potential new processes for workforce development such as local and economic hiring preferences as authorized by BIL Section 25019.
Philadelphia's Infrastructure Solutions Team (IST) showcases public infrastructure projects that have been supported and funded by the IIJA/BIL. Source
Now is the time for local and state leaders to prioritize investments in their infrastructure workforce by tapping IIJA/BIL funding for worker training and supportive services. The effort necessary to create or strengthen relationships between infrastructure project owners and state or local training providers will not only ensure that today’s infrastructure project plans move from the drawing board to implementation, but also pave the way for a strong and diverse infrastructure and trades workforce for the future.
Actions for Local and State Leaders to Secure IIJA/BIL Funding for Infrastructure Workforce
Convene a cross-functional team that includes infrastructure and workforce leaders, including your local Workforce Investment Board
Build coalitions with local building trades councils and fund Apprenticeship Readiness Programs to enhance the training pipeline
Direct staff to prioritize workforce training in competitive grant applications
Sign an executive order/directive that establishes goals and intentions
Support a legislative resolution that establishes goals and intentions for state formula funds and competitive grant applications
Appoint an infrastructure coordinator (or an infrastructure workforce specialist) – and set goals for pursuit of workforce funding