As we approach this Labor Day, the Pennsylvania economy is growing steadily. Working families are sharing in prosperity in a more sustained way than at any point since 1980--although many families still struggle to make ends meet and, in our polarized nation, a big partisan divide exists in perceptions of whether the economy is better than four…

Through higher education-migration ('edugration') systems, many immigrant-dependent countries have become structurally reliant on the retention of post-secondary international students as a source of the so-called global talent. This emerging area of research focuses primarily on the "potential" economic contributions international…

The report provides a landscape analysis of the workforce development environment in Texas. Many organizations are performing valuable roles in ensuring that the labor markets in Texas operate efficiently, supplying employers with skilled workers and providing workers with opportunities to continue their career advancement through reskilling. The…

The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented economic and policy challenges to the United States and other countries. Navigating out of the pandemic slowdown is another novel experience, which makes it more difficult to answer the question addressed each year in the "State of Working Pennsylvania": How is the Pennsylvania economy…

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently projected record-breaking growth in 2021, but it is premature to celebrate this rosy macroeconomic picture. In the same document, the CBO also made an alarming prediction: The U.S. labor market will not fully recover until 2024. Recent U.S. jobs reports reveal the depth of the pandemic-created…

In South Africa, a national peak structure, the Human Resource Development Council, led by the Deputy President and consisting of key Cabinet Ministers, senior leaders from organised labour and business, community representatives, professional bodies and experts from research and higher education, was established to enable high-level coordination…

Asia is known as an economic success story but for many people growth has not been inclusive. The increased mechanization of work and other trends are likely to deepen existing social inequalities. Skills can help address these challenges, but a new and broader perspective is needed in skills development policy. This article argues that while…

This paper establishes an understanding of the Saudi National Human Resources Development (NHRD) and proposes effective strategies for improving the NHRD in the knowledge-based economy. Building on the foundations of HRD at the national level, provided by Harbison and Myers and the utilization of Paprock's NHRD model for transitional societies,…

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, the United States was overdue for a transformation of its postsecondary education and workforce development systems to meet the vast skill and employment needs of today's workers and employers. The pandemic has exponentially increased this need for change, with millions of Americans permanently out of work and in…

The teacher is key to reforming K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for all students (Powell et al., 2018) in the United States, and a catalyst for a competitive workforce and economic development. Reports based on Free or Reduced-Price Lunch (FRPL) and percent schools offering STEM courses, along with FRPL and…

Wyoming community colleges provide dynamic lifelong learning environments through higher education, workforce development, innovative partnerships, and civic and global engagement that lead to responsible citizenship and economic, social, and cultural prosperity. Planning for the future of Wyoming's community colleges and fulfilling the mission of…

Globalization presents Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with opportunities for economic growth and transformation, as many of these nations face economic challenges such as the need for a diversified knowledge-based economy because of the finite resource of hydrocarbons. This requires the development of human capital providing workers with…

Tom Wilson, the chair of the executive committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce published an op-ed titled "Save Capitalism by Paying People More." Wilson acknowledges in blunt terms that ordinary working Americans are not flourishing economically. This year's annual "The State of Working Pennsylvania" documents the accuracy of…

Between 2014 and 2016, California policymakers invested a half-billion dollars in the California Career Pathways Trust (CCPT). The initiative funded regional and local partnerships to establish career pathways designed to lead secondary school students to postsecondary degrees or certifications aligned with regional workforce needs. This brief…

Purpose: This paper explores the economic and social effects of human capital investment in the 20th century. As well as drawing on census data and statistical yearbooks in Australia and Aoteoroa/New Zealand, the paper develops its argument by an intersection of scholarly work in sociology, economics and the history of education to consider the…