When the COVID-19 pandemic plunged the economy back into recession in early 2020, it laid bare a fragile and profoundly inequitable labor market. The economic expansion that reigned from 2009 through 2019 brought historically low unemployment and inflation but failed to reduce income inequality or arrest the decline in the number of high-quality,…

This report profiles three workforce organizations across the country--in Colorado, Georgia and New York--and explores the strategies they used to grow their programs locally. The report examines the dilemmas workforce organizations frequently face in meeting not only the needs of their dual customers--job seekers and employers--but also the needs…

This report describes the Jobs-Plus approach, an attempt to transform low-work, high-welfare public housing developments into high-work, low-welfare communities. It highlights the rationale of the approach, the way the demonstration has been set up to test the approach in the field, and what has been accomplished so far by the seven cities chosen…

The data presented in this report provide insight into employer involvement at 29 Exemplary In-School Demonstration Projects. Twenty of these programs actively sought work experiences for their youth participants, and an additional six programs contained work experience components that did not necessitate employer identification/participation. The…