What happened to McKee’s 2030 income goal? Now, there’s a survey

Eight months after Gov. Dan McKee declared he wanted to raise per-person annual earnings by $20,000 by the end of the decade, his administration on Tuesday unveiled what appears to be the first concrete action in achieving that goal: a survey.

The survey is posted online and is also being promoted through 11 local chambers of commerce to their members, aims to identify gaps in worker training and best practices to recruit and retain workers, according to McKee’s office.

“The survey will help us understand what businesses are currently doing to skill up their employees—whether they are engaged in apprenticeship programs, on-the-job training, tuition reimbursement or other strategies to both recruit and retain workers,” McKee said in a statement.

The goal, first announced in McKee’s State of the State address on Jan. 16, quickly drew questions and some skepticism, but McKee’s office fought off detractors by promising to release a plan in 100 days. In April, a three-page memo was quietly added to the state’s long-term planning website — with no formal press release or announcement other than on X— offering a broad-brush outline for McKee’s “Rhode to Prosperity” that focused on education and workforce development.

The document proposed a series of summer outreach sessions with business and education leaders to gather feedback on and refine McKee’s goal of boosting personal earnings by 2030, with a focus on workforce development and education. Since then, no such events have been publicly announced or shared.

The announcement Tuesday suggested there has been some behind-the-scenes work, such as internal data collection from state agencies and higher education institutions. McKee, along with Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training Director Matt Weldon and Postsecondary Education Commissioner Shannon Gilkey will be participating in “several business feedback sessions” to “crowdsource ideas,” according to the announcement, although specific dates were not listed.

McKee’s office did not immediately return inquiries for comment Tuesday.

The online survey asks businesses about which state workforce development programs they have used, from which schools and universities they have hired employees, and the biggest barriers they have faced in recruiting and retaining workers. Responses are due back by Sept. 2, which is Labor Day.

Based on federal estimates, Rhode Island has an average per-capita income of $66,301. Achieving McKee’s goal would boost earnings to $86,301 on average, not including inflationary pressures.