Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Supervisor Ray Mueller, Third District
Subject: Proposal for the Workforce Entry & Economic Growth Initiative: Wage
Subsidy Program to Create 200 New Full-Time Jobs in Small and
Medium-Sized Businesses
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt a resolution:
A) Approving the Workforce Entry & Economic Growth Initiative; and
B) Authorizing the County Executive to allocate up to $2,000,000 toward the Initiative; and
C) Authorizing the County Executive, or designee(s), to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) to select a qualified organization to administer the program and, in consultation with the County Attorney, to negotiate and execute an agreement with the selected organization.
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BACKGROUND:
Individuals transitioning from degree or certificate programs to the workforce are increasingly facing barriers to hiring due to their lack of experience in their selected industry. These barriers apply both to young adults seeking their first, entry-level job out of college as well as to older adults who returned to school to improve or redirect their career paths in a new discipline. In the current economic market, hiring for entry-level positions is challenging, and the San Mateo Daily Journal has reported that economic analysts call it a "no hire, no fire economy." The Public Policy Institute of California has stated that workers ages 20-24 in California experienced an unemployment rate of 10.8% in May 2025, nearly three times the County's typical overall rate. Although statewide statistics are reported for the 20-24 cohort, this trend reflects broader barriers faced by early-career adults at any age.
According to a 2019 nine-county Bay Area study by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment, the population of recent graduates often also enters the workforce with substantial student-loan obligati...
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