The California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) is the Governor’s agent for the development, oversight, and continuous improvement of California’s workforce development system. The CWDB assists the Governor in setting and guiding workforce development policy, developing innovative initiatives through statewide programs, and expanding the High Road vision through its field branch. The workforce development system is comprised of 45 Local Workforce Development Areas (Local Area), each with its own business-led Local Workforce Development Board (Local Board). These Local Boards work together with the state and their local Chief Elected Officials to oversee the delivery of workforce services relevant to their residents and businesses. The California Unemployment Insurance Code §14200 – §14531 and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) give authority to CWDB to carry out the tasks associated with furthering a High Road workforce system. Learn more about the CWDB in the About Us section.

California and the CWDB are committed to a High Road vision for the state’s workforce development system that embodies the principles of job quality, worker voice, equity, and environmental sustainability. Implementing this vision through policy, programs, and other practices will benefit workers, job-seekers, and industry as well as the state’s workforce development system.

Upcoming Funding

Featured Workforce Initiatives

High Road

High Road Training Partnerships (HRTP) and High Road Construction Careers (HRCC) a systemic approach to industry-based workforce development addressing critical issues of equity, job quality, worker voice, and environmental sustainability.

CAAL Skills

An interagency and multi-departmental data-sharing and program evaluation initiative that uses detailed information from federal and state-funded workforce, education, and human services programs to measure participation and associated outcomes for program participants.

Regional CA

Work to stimulate economic growth, create jobs and build the talent needed to increase income mobility and regional prosperity through collaboration among multiple workforce systems and bringing workforce leaders together.

Prison to Employment

Creates opportunities through collaborative partnerships with state workforce programs and the state corrections systems so that formerly incarcerated and justice-involved individuals can successfully reenter society and the labor force.

Workforce Accelerator Fund

Funds projects that design, develop, and implement programs that accelerate employment and provide access to workforce services and employment opportunities for targeted groups and disadvantaged populations.

HIRE

Increases employment opportunities and job mobility for formerly incarcerated and justice-involved individuals through partnerships with reentry-focused organizations that provide training, reskilling and upskilling, and supportive services.

Breaking Barriers

Supplements existing workforce and education programs by providing services to target populations who are often not eligible for other state and federal programs in an effort to address disparities in the labor market.

Coming Soon

Initiative Coming Soon

In the Spotlight

Sacramento, CA – Each September, the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB) celebrates Labor Day and Workforce Development Month. Labor Day was championed by labor activists more than a decade before it became a National Holiday in 1894. Workforce Development Month builds on the celebration of labor and workers, bringing attention to the vital role workforce development plays in our nation’s economy.

CWDB approaches workforce development using the four guiding High Road principles:

- Equity
- Job Quality
- Climate Resiliency
- Worker Voice

Equity is built into every initiative. Projects funded by CWDB target individuals who have been left out of economic prosperity including women, communities of color, and immigrants. With comprehensive training and supportive services ALL workers have access to quality jobs, opportunities for upward mobility, and safe and healthy workplaces.

Job Quality is a goal for every project. CWDB fosters the creation of jobs that provide family-sustaining wages, career pathways, stable and predictable schedules, worker voice, and healthy work environments. This is achieved by focusing on partnerships between businesses, workers, and labor unions. As industry standards rise, job quality rises along with it.

Climate Resiliency in workforce means reducing greenhouse gas emissions, addressing the vulnerabilities of disadvantaged communities, and connecting climate-change reduction to workforce practices. It supports California’s goal to reach carbon-neutrality and to mitigate the harm to communities which have been unequally burdened by climate change.

Worker Voice is the platform for workers to be heard and improve process, including highlighting problems and working on solutions. It improves both job quality and employer problem-solving and training. This is why it is embedded in all CWDB’s Initiatives. Projects require partnerships and these partnerships teach participants and employers about the benefits of employee involvement and investment and put worker voice into practice.

These four guiding principles work together to create positive change for people, businesses, and communities.

September is Workforce Development month

Operation New Hope, a Prison to Employment partner working with the San Bernadino County Workforce Development Board, helps San Bernadino justice-involved youth with finding a career path, life skills, and mental health services. By offering comprehensive supportive services, technical certifications, apprenticeships, and more, Operation New Hope is changing lives and closing the gap on equity, preparing participants to get hired into good-paying careers.

Project partners IBEW Local 18, SCOPE, and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE) work together to ensure the Utility Pre-Craft Training Program (UPCT) creates quality decarbonization jobs in Los Angeles for workers with barriers to employment and from low-income neighborhoods.

This High Road Training Partnership (HRTP) project creates accessible pathways to good-paying union jobs at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and other utility companies in LA County. Partnering with local worker unions is key to including worker voice and needs.

The HRTP Humboldt High Road Wind project is a workforce study dedicated to making California more climate resilient with additional wind power. The project will determine the needs for effective Offshore Wind industry development in Humboldt, including enhancing workforce training and creating good-paying jobs for the underserved local residents.

GILLIG and partner Teamsters Local 853 are committed to working together on the Team Gillig HRTP project. Training and advancement are key components of the project and are led by the voices of GILLIG’s workers. Worker voice will also be equally represented in the partnership’s Leadership Committee.

The Helping Justice-Involved Reenter Employment’s (HIRE) first group of grantees includes equity-focused California’s Reentry Employment Opportunity Network. The Opportunity Network provides a wide variety of workforce programming to individuals impacted by the criminal legal system, including access to a consistent set of wraparound supports. These services reduce recidivism and prepare graduates to rejoin the workforce in stable, good-paying jobs.

Network partners include A New Way of Life Reentry Project, The Anti-Recidivism Coalition, Root & Rebound, Rubicon Programs, Starting Over, Inc., Turning Point, Whole Systems Learning, and People Working Together. Projects will serve justice-involved participants in Alameda, Fresno, Los Angeles, Marin, Sacramento, San Bernadino, Santa Clara, San Diego, and Solano.

CWDB JOB OPENINGS

People participating in a Cannabis training class

Review our available positions below, and visit the CalCareers webpage to learn more about how to apply for a state job.

New to the State – Review the 3 Steps To A State Job webpage and be sure to complete the exam/assessment and state application before applying for this position.

Are you passionate about ending poverty and inequality? Are you motivated to address the climate crisis and social injustice while working on economic and workforce development? If so, you may be a great fit for one of our open positions at the California Workforce Development Board (CWDB).

The CWDB is recognized nationally as a progressive and experimental state workforce department, charting a path to a High Road economy and approach to workforce development grounded in the principles of social equity, environmental sustainability, and resilience and quality jobs. Over the past decade, the CWDB’s budget, programs, and staff have grown exponentially using federal and state workforce funding to pilot new sector-based workforce initiatives and develop policy solutions that address the quality and accessibility of jobs in addition to training.

Click Below To View Current CWDB Job Opportunities:

EXECUTIVE TEAM