21 states submit combined workforce plans to align education and jobs

Twenty-one states have now submitted combined workforce plans that are meant to pull education and job training into one system, a shift that could make it easier for Big Lots workers to find a next step when store hours shrink or locations close. The number is up from 9 states in 2024, and the practical value is simple: a less tangled route to classes, certificates, apprenticeships and local job programs that fit retail schedules.

The U.S. Departments of Education and Labor said the combined plans are designed to strengthen alignment between education and workforce systems, reduce administrative burden and connect credentials more directly to in-demand jobs. Each state and territory submits a unified or combined Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act plan that lays out a four-year strategy and gets updated after two years. The agencies also pushed states in April to fold in career and technical education programs funded under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, which matters for workers trying to turn store-floor experience into something that travels, like merchandising, operations, inventory or supervision skills.

For Big Lots employees, that is where the story turns from policy to paychecks. The Department of Labor’s adult program is built around job search help and training opportunities, with priority given to adult employment and training funds. In plain terms, that can mean a worker who has spent years stocking shelves or running a register may be able to tap a local workforce office for short-term training instead of starting over in a long degree program. If a state workforce board, community college or adult education program becomes easier to navigate, the path from entry-level retail to a better retail role gets less obscure.

The timing is hard to ignore. Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 on September 9, 2024, in Delaware, after public reporting said the chain had more than 1,300 stores and about 27,700 employees. CNBC reported the company agreed to sell itself to Nexus Capital Management for about $760 million. By December 19, 2024, Big Lots said it was preparing going-out-of-business sales at 963 remaining stores after closing about 400 locations, and later reporting said all remaining stores were slated to shut. For workers, that meant uncertainty, layoffs and a race to find something stable before the next schedule disappeared.

A WARN-tracking database cited 3,249 Big Lots workers affected across 15 notices from December 2014 through February 2025, showing how widely the disruption spread. That is why the combined-plan push matters beyond Washington. New America has said states were already trying to improve coordination among workforce, K-12, postsecondary and career and technical education systems before the latest federal push. For Big Lots workers, the real question is not whether the bureaucracy got cleaner. It is whether that cleaner system now gets someone into a credential, a training seat or a better job faster.