The NCWorks Commission recommends policies and strategies that enable the state’s workforce and businesses to compete in the global economy.
The Commission is designated as the state’s Workforce Development Board under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Led by a private sector chair, the 37-member Commission includes representatives from the business community, heads of state workforce agencies, educators, and community leaders. All members are appointed by the Governor.
Mission: To ensure North Carolina has an innovative, relevant, effective, and efficient workforce development system that develops adaptable, work-ready, skilled talent to meet the current and future needs of workers and businesses to achieve and sustain economic prosperity; and to ensure North Carolinians are ready for the jobs of today and tomorrow by increasing access to education and skills training, fostering employer leadership to prepare workers, and supporting and scaling local innovation.
For more information related to the work of the Commission, email ncworkscommission@commerce.nc.gov.
Resources
The following links provide detailed information on meetings, strategic plans, and more.
- Meetings – agendas and locations of meetings
- Member Resources – enabling legislation, list of members, orientation information, the WIOA State Unified Plan, partner agencies
- Spotlight on Local Workforce Innovations – a series of stories highlighting promising practices that can be replicated across the state
- Local Innovation Fund – Governor’s initiative to support efforts by communities to meet workforce challenges
- Policy Statements – major policies approved by the Commission, as well as Operational Guidance notices from DWS
- Memorandum on Workforce Development Board System Alignment Study
The NCWorks Commission recommends policies to ensure that the state’s workforce partners meet the goals established in the Commission's Strategic Plan, which are listed below:
- Prepare workers to succeed in the North Carolina economy by increasing skills and education attainment.
- Create a workforce system that is responsive to the needs of the economy by fostering employer leadership.
- Promote replication of creative solutions to challenging workforce problems by supporting local innovation.
- Promote system access, alignment, integration, and modernization.
Career Pathways
A career pathway is the start-to-finish journey for someone that leads to a good job at a good salary. All of the education, training opportunities, and credentials needed for that great job make up the career pathway. In North Carolina, workforce and education agencies are teaming up with industry to develop NCWorks Certified Career Pathways to educate people on the skills and credentials they need to get those jobs.
To create a workforce system responsive to the economy’s needs, the NCWorks Commission approved the criteria for NCWorks Career Pathways in May 2015.
NCWorks Career Centers
The NCWorks Commission established customer service standards for all NCWorks Career Centers to ensure high-quality and consistent service delivery across the state. NCWorks Career Centers assist job seekers with improving their skills and finding jobs and help businesses develop a qualified workforce.
- Certification Criteria for NCWorks Career Centers
- Find NCWorks Career Centers near you at NCWorks.gov
NC Job Ready
The Commission is committed to supporting Governor Roy Cooper’s NC Job Ready Initiative and his priorities for workforce development, desiring North Carolinians to be better educated, healthier, and have more money in their pockets so that they can live more abundant, purposeful lives. NC Job Ready is built on three core principles: skills and education attainment so North Carolinians are ready for the jobs of today and tomorrow, employer leadership to remain relevant to evolving industry needs, and local innovation to take great ideas and apply them statewide.
Education is the foundation to a strong workforce, and so the Commission also supports Governor Cooper’s goal to make North Carolina a Top Ten Educated State by 2025 by increasing the number of four-year-olds enrolled in high quality pre-K, raising the high school graduation rate, and increasing the number of North Carolinians with a post-secondary degree or credential.
The NCWorks Commission is committed to ensuring that data is used to target resources, understand the value of programs to customers, and to assess the effectiveness of the workforce system.
Business Pulse Survey
The 'Business Pulse Survey,' the first of its kind ever undertaken by the Department of Commerce, provided timely insights from Oct. 2021-June 2023, as the state navigated changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Employer Needs Survey
The Employer Needs Survey provides data on the needs of employers that the NCWorks Commission can use to develop strategies to guide the workforce system.
- 2022 Employer Needs Survey
- 2020 Employer Needs Survey
- 2018 Employer Needs Survey
- 2016 Employer Needs Survey
- 2014 Employer Needs Survey
North Carolina’s Quarterly Labor Market Data Sheet
Working with the Labor and Economic Analysis Division of the N.C. Department of Commerce, the NCWorks Commission provides a quarterly publication to provide key economic and labor market information that relates to the workforce, so that Commission members can see the latest trends in North Carolina and discuss future needs in workforce development policy.
- Read the latest Economic Quarterly Publication
System Performance
North Carolina General Statute requires the NCWorks Commission to develop, continuously improve, and report on system-wide performance measures to assess the effectiveness of the entire workforce development system.