Opinion: NYC Is Spending Millions on Workforce Development — But Not on the Workers Who Need It Most

Funding for adult workforce programs has fallen — despite clear evidence that investments in adult upskilling, credentialing and job placement deliver faster returns in wages, productivity and tax revenue.

New York City spends over half a billion dollars a year on workforce development. But if you’re an adult trying to upskill, change careers or get ahead, you’re largely on your own.

Our new report at the New York City Employment and Training Coalition (NYCETC), Putting Our Dollars to Work, shows that only 16 percent of the city’s $640 million workforce budget reaches prime-age adults who fall outside traditional safety net programs. Despite constituting the majority of the city’s unemployed, underemployed and low-wage workers, this group is excluded from a workforce development system that claims to offer New Yorkers a pathway to post-pandemic labor market success. 

While middle-wage jobs have declined and high-income earners continue to see their wages rise, the city’s most relied-upon occupations — from health care and child care to building services, retail, food service and delivery — are stuck or falling farther behind in the affordability crisis. These workers face stagnant wages, limited mobility and no clear or coordinated commitment from the city’s workforce system to support their advancement. 

Simply put, when New Yorkers try to position themselves and their families for better pay, stronger benefits and access to growing industries — or seek out the coaching, credentials or flexible scheduling necessary to advance, they find themselves shut out. It’s the exact opposite of what our city promises: not only a betrayal of our ethos as a place “where dreams are made of,” but a failure of our vision for shared economic success.

The city’s approach to workforce investment has shifted dramatically in recent years, with youth-focused programs seeing unprecedented growth, accounting for nearly half of all allocated workforce dollars in FY24. The Summer Youth Employment Program alone receives more than $240 million, a 627 percent increase since 2013. That may sound like an investment in the future, but more critically it highlights a serious disinvestment in the current workforce, especially for adults who are ready to fill today’s jobs, meet current labor market demands, and lift their families out of poverty. 

Funding for adult workforce programs at the Department of Social Services and the Department of Small Business Services has dropped by 43 percent and 28 percent, respectively — despite clear evidence that investments in adult upskilling, credentialing and job placement deliver faster returns in wages, productivity and tax revenue than longer-term youth pipelines. That’s a systemic neglect of working adults.

This isn’t about pitting youth against adults. Investments in young people are critical. But we can’t ignore the fact that our current approach is wildly out of balance. More than 900,000 working-age adults in New York City, mostly Black, Latino, immigrant and outer-borough residents, remain siloed in precarious jobs, disconnected from the infrastructure that could support long-term growth and stability. This failure weakens our economy, our tax base and our collective future.

Workforce development needs to be central to the city’s economic development strategy. That means rebalancing our investments, modernizing our training systems and creating real on-ramps to sustainable jobs for the adults who are trying to stay afloat. The good news is that we know what works. Across NYCETC’s more than 220 member organizations, we see local, dynamic and innovative job training and career development programs helping adults build the skills and social capital required to connect with employers, and we facilitate access to the services and supports necessary to retrain and retain talent. But these programs can’t scale without sustained, equitable funding and a commitment from City Hall and the City Council to prioritize working New Yorkers. 

Every New Yorker deserves a fair shot at economic security, no matter their starting point. In a year with City Council and mayoral elections and with financial insecurity at the top of voters’ minds, we have an opportunity to rebalance priorities. It’s easy to point to any number of broken or imbalanced city systems and ask where public dollars could have the greatest impact. But when it comes to workforce development, continuing to underinvest in adult workers is economically self-defeating and short-sighted.

We need a workforce system built for the realities of today’s New York — one that meets workers where they are and invests in the people who keep this city running. If we matched the level of investment we make in one season — like the Summer Youth Employment Program — across the full year and extended that same access to training, opportunity and support to adult workers, we could unlock economic mobility at scale. This isn’t just about equity — it’s about staying competitive, strengthening our business climate and generating a multiplier effect that supports entire families, fuels local economies and builds a stronger, more resilient city. 

With more than 25 years of experience in education and workforce development, Gregory J. Morris currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Employment and Training Coalition, the largest city-based workforce development association in the United States, representing over 200 member organizations.