EARN Maryland is a state-funded, competitive workforce and economic development grant program that is industry-led and regional in focus. It is designed to ensure that Maryland’s businesses have the talent they need to compete and grow while providing targeted education and skills training to Maryland jobseekers.
The program focuses on solutions to sustained skills gaps and personnel shortages; addresses the needs of workers by creating formal career paths to good jobs; and encourages mobility for Maryland’s jobseekers with barriers to employment through targeted job readiness training.
Through October 2015, more than 1,700 workers received strategic training. Of those, nearly 1,600 (93 percent) have attained a new credential, certification, or skill as identified by their employer. As a direct result, employer partners report improved productivity, cost savings, wages, and job retention.
EARN Maryland is reaching another important subset of the workforce: the unemployed and underemployed. Employer partners identified the need for the development of a pipeline of entry-level workers ready and able to work. Strategic Industry Partnerships are providing job readiness and skills training to prepare unemployed and underemployed Marylanders for meaningful careers.
As of October 2015, nearly 850 EARN Maryland participants completed entry-level training programs. Of those, almost 650 obtained employment. Many of these participants are considered to be “hard-to-serve” because they have had various barriers to employment.