ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Governor Larry Hogan, in collaboration with the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation, Maryland Department of Commerce, Maryland State Department of Education, Maryland Higher Education Commission, Maryland Department of Human Services, and the State Department of Assessments and Taxation, today unveiled the Maryland Workforce Expressway, a new website that connects businesses to the full array of state workforce development resources in Maryland.
“Our administration is committed to using every resource possible to provide excellent customer service to our citizens,” said Governor Hogan. “This innovative website will modernize the way our businesses connect with Maryland’s incredible array of workforce resources, helping our businesses identify and grow their talent.”
The new website, www.maryland.gov/workforce, hosts nearly 50 workforce resources in one, easy-to-navigate location. Previously spread across many state agencies, the Expressway is a single source for links to talent engagement services, workforce education, hiring incentives, workforce training grants, labor and industry standards, and reemployment services. By streamlining access to state workforce resources, Maryland employers can more easily access the tools and services they need to secure and develop their talent pipelines.
“Maryland has a dynamic workforce system, with numerous programs and services to help both our employers and workers grow and succeed,” said Labor Secretary Kelly Schulz. “Charged by Governor Hogan to provide the best customer service to our business community, as well as those looking for a life-changing career opportunity, we put our agencies’ myriad of workforce resources in one location to make it easier for Marylanders to find what they need, and perhaps discover opportunities they may not have been aware of. The Expressway is a tremendous benefit to Maryland businesses, and a powerful tool for the workforce system.”
Secretary Schulz made the announcement during the Hogan administration’s Montgomery County Cabinet Day, which included a public cabinet meeting in Olney, Md., followed by nearly 100 events, tours, and meetings across the county in which state officials visit local communities and hear from citizens directly.
Earlier this year, the governor’s cabinet created the Workforce Dashboard Taskforce, a team of state agency stakeholders with an interest in the successful delivery of workforce development resources to the Maryland business community. Tasked with developing a comprehensive, web-based workforce development and training point of access to meet the informational needs of current and potential organizations conducting business in the state of Maryland, the taskforce researched existing resources and developed the web-based Maryland Workforce Expressway platform.
The Expressway is hosted within the Hogan administration’s Maryland Business Express website, a nationally recognized collaboration among state agencies to gather state resources and make it easier for business owners and entrepreneurs to plan, start, manage, and grow their business. Now, the Maryland Workforce Expressway connects those business owners and their employees with the education, training, and services they need to develop their workforce and thrive in Maryland. Because the Expressway was built upon the existing Business Express framework, the entire project came at no cost to taxpayers.
“Maryland Commerce was pleased to work with our state agency partners to develop the Expressway and ensure it meets the needs of Maryland’s businesses and jobseekers,” said Maryland Commerce Secretary Mike Gill. “Streamlining all of Maryland’s workforce resources into a singular portal not only gives jobseekers easy access to new job opportunities, but will give businesses a competitive advantage in being able to select the best talent for their organization.”
The Workforce Expressway is the latest innovative workforce initiative started under the Hogan-Rutherford administration. As of June 2018, nearly 3,500 unemployed and underemployed Marylanders have completed training programs through the nationally recognized EARN Maryland program, 81 percent of which have secured employment. The state is also working with community colleges to develop pathways to connect an apprentice’s instruction and training with additional education and programs and just recently announced that Maryland reached the milestone of having 10,000 registered apprentices. In August, the Hogan administration announced that 49 companies are expected to create more than 2,000 jobs through the More Jobs for Marylanders program, which also offers workforce development resources for these employers and employees.
To help spread the word on this exciting new tool, state agencies have been provided with a toolkit of materials that will enable them to feature the Maryland Workforce Expressway prominently on their websites.