Jobs in Seattle for Low-Income Parents

One government organization is working to pair low-income parents with jobs in Seattle.

The Office of Economic Development is doing its part this year to support Mayor Mike McGinn's Youth and Families Initiative. The OED works to ensure that low-income parents receive the career and technical education they need to compete for jobs in the competitive global economy.

A recent article from the OED notes that while people have long understood that educational attainment affects income, the difference in economic outcomes for those with the most education and those with the least education has never been starker.

Unemployment figures during 2008 and 2009 show that those without a college degree have increased on average almost three times as fast as those with at least a college degree. Fortunately for the OED, increasing the rates of post-secondary attainment for low-income parents also helps their children succeed.

Recent research from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation found that parental education levels are the single most important driver of a child's future. In addition, post-secondary education is the critical pathway that leads individuals and their families out of poverty.

In order to help adults attain the education and skills they need to attain living wage jobs, OED has teamed up with the following partners this year:

• Seattle Jobs Initiative – to provide job skills training and support services for up to 1,200 low-income clients with approximately 400 of them obtaining jobs.
• SkillUp Washington – a new partnership encompassing leaders in philanthropy, government, education and industry to design new ways for working adults to obtain post-secondary degrees and credentials that have genuine labor market value.
• The Manufacturing and Industrial Council – to place Seattle youth aged 16-24 in short-term, paid work experience internships – a partnership that not only drives real living-wage careers, but makes sure that workers' skills can meet changing industry demands.

"The changing economy requires increasingly sophisticated workers who have access to ongoing education and training opportunities while they are working to support their families," the article notes. "The Office of Economic Development is leading this effort to bring vital post-secondary education and training to the workers who need it most – workers who will pass on the benefits, and knowledge, to their children."