Lawmakers Join with Business, Labor and Faith Leaders Calling for $100M ‘Ready to Work’ Investment

A broad coalition of New York legislators, business leaders, labor organizations, and advocacy groups are urging Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders to include a $100 million “Ready to Work” investment for in the 2025-26 state budget.

The Ready to Work Initiative aims to address New York’s severe labor shortage by/investing in job training, workforce development, and essential supportive services, including childcare, transportation, and language assistance. This critical funding will connect businesses with underutilized workers and help fill the state’s 500,000 open jobs, boosting local economies and strengthening key industries such as healthcare, construction, and hospitality.

“New York works best when elected leaders, business owners, labor and community advocates work together with common aims. Ready to Work funding unites us all in the commitment to ending our state’s crippling labor shortage,” said New York Senate Labor Committee Chair Jessica Ramos.at the Ellis Island Initiative Albany Lobby Day held on Wednesday.

“With so many working-age New Yorkers leaving the state, it’s important to invest in the workers who are ready to work right now, and that includes immigrants,” said Ellis Island Initiative spokesperson Steven Choi. “Newcomers to our state are part of the solution to our draining workforce shortage. This funding will support workers looking for good jobs but who face challenges while helping businesses find the workers they need.”  The Ellis Island Initiative is a bipartisan statewide coalition of New York’s leading labor, business, faith and advocacy organizations aiming to transform the state’s approach to integrating asylum-seeking families into our communities.

Business leaders also spoke out in support of the bill, calling attention to the difficulties employers are having finding workers. “Employers across New York State are continuing to have difficulty recruiting and retaining talent which prevents them from increasing their profits and growing their business. We need our leaders in Albany to fund the Ready to Work initiative and help us fill these jobs with more than 200,000 job seekers right here in our own backyards,” said Business Council of Westchester Executive Vice President/COO John Ravitz. He noted that the Ready To Work proposal is included in the BCW’s 2025 Legislative Agenda. In addition, the BCW hosted a business roundtable last year to discuss the importance of creating the Ready to Work Program.  

The Ready To Work Campaign funding will increase access to services critical to job seekers like individualized career advising and support for job-seekers, occupational skills training programs to help prep workers for positions, and employee support and coaching for businesses. The investment will also include direct support for social service agencies and support for childcare, transportation, housing relocation, and language assistance programs to better guarantee that untapped workers, including new immigrants, have a pathway to gainful employment. 

New York State is facing a critical moment. The state is facing a serious labor shortage with nearly 500,000 job openings across the state across a wide variety of industries – health care, construction, hospitality and more, as more than 630,000 New Yorkers have left the state since 2020 and the number of newcomers to New York has not kept pace.   

To watch the full press conference click here