COVID-19 has left tens of millions of Americans out of work or uncertain about the future of their current jobs, and thousands of firms urgently reassessing their own viability and path forward. Even before the pandemic led to the highest national unemployment rate since the Great Depression, American businesses and workers were anxious about how…

The Pathways for Academic Career and Employment (PACE) program is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of programs that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic and employment training to ensure gainful employment and…

The Pathways for Academic Career and Employment (PACE) program is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of programs that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic and employment training to ensure gainful employment and…

Policymakers at the state and federal levels have expressed concern over the emerging "skills gap"--the mismatch between the job skills employers are looking for and the skills that applicants in the labor market possess. The skills gap is most acute for middle-skilled jobs; that is, jobs that require training beyond high school but less…

The Pathways for Academic Career and Employment (PACE) program is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of programs that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic training to ensure gainful employment and customized support…

Workforce development in the United States today is spread across higher education institutions (primarily public two-year and for-profit colleges), labor market institutions, and workplaces, with public funding from a range of sources. But outcomes for students and workers are weaker than they could be, especially among disadvantaged students and…

Postsecondary workforce development is one of the major innovations of the modern community college. In a workforce approach, curriculum is driven by the needs of local industry, course delivery systems are sufficiently flexible to meet the diverse needs of students and industry, and students experience a mixture of work-based and classroom…

The Pathways for Academic Career and Employment (PACE) program is established to provide funding to community colleges for the development of programs that will lead to gainful, quality, in-state employment for members of target populations by providing them with both effective academic training to ensure gainful employment and customized support…

In July 2014, President Obama signed into law the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), a major restructuring and modernization of U.S. workforce development programs originally created through the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), which had been awaiting reauthorization for more than a decade. This brief provides an overview of…

The National Research Council (NRC) and National Academy of Engineering (NAE) have released a new report, "Community Colleges in the Evolving STEM Education Landscape: Summary of a Summit." Based on a national summit that was supported by the National Science Foundation and organized by the NRC and the NAE, the report highlights the importance of…

When one hears the word "college", the first image one might have is of ivy-covered buildings on a tree-lined campus. The thing is, this image is largely inaccurate, and everyday it becomes further removed from reality. It belies the fact that less than 20 percent of today's college freshmen fit the traditional profile--that is, young…

The national completion agenda--manifested in President Obama's challenge to double the number of degree and certificate holders in the U.S. by 2020, and in the quest for employable skills by displaced workers in the current economic crisis--is having a transformative effect on America's community colleges. Calls from politicians, policy makers,…

This paper discusses the importance of effective training and workforce development programs as part of a broader strategy to increase the competitiveness of American workers. Although rapid technological change and increasing global competition have delivered great economic benefits to the U.S. economy overall, the development of new and more…

This bibliography summarizes recent research on the structure and effectiveness of workforce development programs. While the term "workforce development" can mean many things, this document focuses on programs to help low-skill, low-wage and displaced workers increase their employment and earnings, as well as labor market trends that…

When Martin Lancaster took over as president of the North Carolina Community College System more than a decade ago, the state, not unlike much of the nation, stood at the precipice of a massive economic shift. As traditional manufacturing and farming jobs--from tobacco to furniture to textiles--began to disappear, demand for a new breed of worker…