One of the main challenges in modern labour markets is to improve the mobility and employability of workers among workplaces, jobs and roles. This paper explores the factors that might influence people's beliefs about and attitudes towards the mechanisms for improving employability through training. We develop a research model and test it in…

Based on interviews with sixty- one working- class men in rural Pennsylvania, this article explores the ways in which rural, working- class men do--and do not--seek to improve their labor- market positions by getting additional education or training, moving, or taking gender- atypical jobs. The evidence presented shows that men are making many…

"Career Pathways" is a framework that combines education, occupational training, and support services that align with the skill demands of the local economy to help participants enter and advance in a sequence of occupations within a specific sector or occupational cluster. Career pathways programs seek to address many of the challenges…

Over the past century, the United States workforce has undergone a massive structural shift. Technological change has moved the economy toward skilled labor and away from unskilled labor--a phenomenon known as skill-biased technical change. This structural shift has increased the relative demand for educated and skilled labor, leading to…

This appendix documents the methodology used by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce to project educational demand within the US economy. The methodology produces forecasts using data from two private analytics companies. The authors use occupational forecasts provided by Lightcast that are calibrated to total employment…

The staggering highs and lows of the recent US economy and their effect on the labor force has been deeply unsettling. The US has come through the COVID-19 recession, the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, followed by the quickest recovery ever. One trend in the workforce has remained unaltered throughout this historic change:…

This paper discusses the scope of the employee's voice in lifelong education decisions, with a focus on qualified assembly-line workers and professional development schemes allowing their upward mobility out of the assembly line. Using a capability approach, it investigates voice as part of people's agency. Beyond examining the channels that allow…

This report projects education requirements linked to forecasted job growth for all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 2021 through 2031. It complements a larger national report that projects education demand by occupation and industry for the same period. The national report finds that by 2031, 72 percent of all jobs nationally will…

The COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 triggered a recession and deep changes in Washington's labor market. Widespread temporary business closures, followed by a slow-paced phased reopening, have caused soaring unemployment rates. Workers are looking to improve their employability in a rapidly shifting economic landscape by reskilling into…

In today's labor market, students increasingly need greater levels of postsecondary education and training to enter or advance in many industries. Meanwhile, employers are calling for the education system to better align with industry needs, as their demands for a skilled workforce continue to rise. In response to the increasing emphasis for…

This paper investigates the creation of an unlikely education hub in Manila, Philippines, where local institutions have seen a growing number of international students from Korea, India, and the Middle East. These students seek qualifications in professions where Filipino migrants are highly represented, either to gain an advantage within their…

The experience of developed countries--particularly member-states of the OECD--has shown that employers are actively investing in developing the human capital of their employees. According to research conducted by the World Bank, more than half of the companies in developed countries provide their employees with training in one form or another.…

In this brief, JFF (Jobs for the Future) explores what training providers can do to adapt their programming in ways that put the country on a path to an equitable economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors conducted research to examine what education and training providers can do to design programs that emphasize equity and…

Every person deserves the opportunity for dignified employment that provides living wages and potential for advancement. However, for many in America today, this is far from reality, as they are caught in a cycle of low-wage work, earning poverty wages, and unable to move up in the economy. Local leaders, firms, and workers need to adapt quickly…

WorkAdvance is a sectoral workforce development program designed to meet the needs of workers and employers alike. For unemployed and low-wage working adults, the program provides skills training in targeted sectors that have good-quality job openings with room for advancement within established career pathways. For employers in those sectors,…