The New York City Workforce Investment Board

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The Workforce Investment Board has become a dynamic leadership body that showcases the City's accomplishments in serving businesses and jobseekers.

An Innovative Contributor to New York City's Economic Growth
New York City is home to 8.2 million people, of whom approximately 3.9 million people make up the City’s labor force. The City of New York provides workforce development services to jobseekers and employers through a system of universally accessible Workforce1 Career Centers and NYC Business Solutions Centers. The New York City Workforce Investment Board (WIB) oversees these federally funded workforce programs that assist the City’s workforce by promoting an increase in the employment, job retention, earnings, and occupational skills improvement of participants. The New York City Workforce Investment Area, the largest in the country, includes New York City’s five boroughs: the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. The NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) currently operates federally funded programs for adults, and the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) operates programs for youth.

The WIB is made up of volunteer members, who are appointed by the Mayor, and includes representatives of local businesses, educational institutions, labor unions, community-based organizations, and other government agencies. These individuals examine workforce issues and review policies aimed at ensuring that workforce initiatives successfully fulfill the Mayor's vision of a strong workforce development system. This vision includes three key components:

1. A strong linkage to economic development projects in all five boroughs
2. A tight connection with businesses to ensure their needs are met
3. Services that effectively and efficiently connect New Yorkers to jobs in demand

Energized by the dynamic leadership of the WIB and its workforce partners, New York City has made remarkable progress, transforming the City's workforce programming into an effective system that connects qualified jobseekers with employers, making it easier for businesses to compete, grow, and contribute to the City's economy. The system's workforce programs have become highly effective economic development tools, saving businesses time and money, improving the accountability of City spending, and enhancing the vitality of the New York City job market.

In 2003, the City's adult workforce development programs were merged into the Department of Small Business Services. At the heart of this strategy is the understanding that economic development initiatives both large and small depend on access to a skilled and qualified workforce.

New York City's innovative business-driven programs have led to dramatic growth in the number of workers and businesses benefiting from the workforce system and in the number of business, government, and academic leaders becoming involved in the WIB.