Progressive Workforce Strategies

Regional Partnerships for Immigrant Integration and Workforce Development in the City of Seattle and King County

The City of Seattle Office or Immigrant and Refugee Affairs ("OIRA") commissioned this report to deepen our collective understanding of immigration in our region.

This report offer ways that the City of Seattle and neighboring cities, King County, workforce agencies and education stakeholders, labor unions, employers, and community organizations can work together in solidarity to improve the workforce conditions and economic stability of all our residents – immigrant and native born alike.

Visit OIRA's Report Page

"This report offers unique strategies that will make a tremendous difference for new arrivals and immigrant communities. Policymakers and stakeholders implementing these recommendations will strengthen and improve how our region’s workforce development system serves all our communities, immigrants and the U.S.-born residents alike. By reducing fragmentation, centering equity, and amplifying the voices of those most impacted in our workforce system, our region will continue to serve as a national leader in what it means to create the thriving, diverse, and inter-connected communities we all deserve."
Rich Stolz

“The vibrancy and growth of our regional economy and the great wealth it produces are inextricably linked to immigrant integration as the flow and movement of capital in and out our region cannot be separated from the movement of people. Immigration remains a major an essential component of economic growth and development across all sectors in our region."
Excerpt from the Report

"We cannot address the exploitation of migrant workers if we don’t also ensure that all workers can earn a decent wage...We cannot decouple immigration debates from debates about economic policy, labor standards, inequality, welfare, education and how we treat the sick and elderly. Any real debate on migration will therefore inevitably be a debate on the type of society we want to live in.”
Hein De Hass, How Migration Really Works

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