Background

Regional Workforce Development Committees Background

In November 2019, the provincial government mandated four new core activities for the NL Workforce Innovation Centre (NLWIC), including:

  • To develop regionally tailored workforce development action plans, including:
    • Development and dissemination of labour market information (LMI);
    • Identification of priority focus areas for training and skills development;
    • Collaborative use of labour market programs and services, including immigration related supports.
  • These Regional Workforce Development Committees are to serve as planning platforms for localized labour market activities and initiatives.

10 Regions, 10 Committees

The Regional Workforce Development Committees was a collaborative project between NLWIC and the Department of Immigration, Population Growth and Skills (IPGS), now renamed the Department of Jobs, Immigration and Growth (JIG). Each Committee included the participation of the following provincial and federal government entities at the regional level:

  • The Department of Industry, Energy and Technology
  • The Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture
  • The Department of Jobs, Immigration and Growth
  • The College of the North Atlantic
  • The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency
  • Service Canada

Stakeholders invited to the RWDCs meetings included local, regional and provincial labour stakeholders with a vested interest in workforce development, who were identified by the Regional Workforce Development Committees (RWDCs) to contribute their perspectives on workforce development issues and action-oriented solutions in each of the ten regions of the province.

Each Committee was part of the evaluation of the concurrent research project funded by the Future Skills Centre, “Testing and Evaluating the Impact of a New Workforce Development Model in Newfoundland and Labrador.”