The Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides states with unprecedented amounts of funding to deploy broadband infrastructure, improve affordability, and ensure meaningful adoption in communities. Governors are investing in high-speed internet to grow economies and empower people to fully participate in digital society. Yet up to 205,000 fiber optic technicians, as well as thousands of additional engineers and construction workers, will be needed over the next five years to realize these goals. During the National Governor Association’s (NGA) 2023 Broadband Leaders Workshop, participants gathered to share best practices and discuss opportunities and challenges presented by different broadband measures. This NGA commentary explores three promising models for expanding the broadband workforce: leveraging sector partnerships, investing in apprenticeship, and partnering with community colleges.

The capacity to plan for, design, and conduct evaluations takes appropriately allocated resources, expertise, technical assistance, and tools to create over time. WorkforceGPS will host a virtual session on July 26, 2023, from 3:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. ET that will highlight the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration’s efforts and those of two state workforce agencies to expand or build evidence and implement evaluations as required by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014. Along with representatives from Washington State and North Carolina, presenters will share insights about the evaluation and research community of practice, describe lessons learned from past Evaluation Peer Learning Cohorts (EvalPLC), and provide information about the next round of applications for the 2023 EvalPLC.

For the tens of millions of American adults that lack basic literacy, numeracy, and digital skills, most cannot access employment opportunities in high-wage, high-demand occupations and industries that are increasingly focusing on skills in their hiring processes. Year Up provides its participants with the opportunity to develop essential career readiness and business skills, build foundational technical capabilities, and complete an immersive, work-based learning experience with a leading employer partner. American Institutes for Research’s (AIR’s) PROMISE Center is partnering with Year Up to expand its nationwide program with fidelity. In this Q&A, AIR shares how this work could help scale up effective skills-based training programs, expand and diversify the workforce, and support employers’ skills-based hiring practices.

As the COVID-19 pandemic entered its third year, the initial shocks of closures and layoffs had subsided, and indicators suggested the U.S. economy was on the rebound. Unemployment was at historical lows, wages were rising, and employers were expanding hiring practices, attempting to open doors to more job seekers. Yet, there were approximately two job openings for every one job seeker, indicating there were not enough workers in the job market. The Worker Voices Project is a Federal Reserve System research effort, started in May 2022, engaging low-wage workers and nondegree job seekers through focus groups across the country to understand their experiences of the economy in the recovery. This report offers a nuanced perspective on how these workers and job seekers navigate employment and strive for economic stability in the labor market.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) provides programming and support to help ensure that individuals released from federal custody can successfully transition from prison to the community. This transition can be challenging, and many returning citizens ultimately reengage with the criminal justice system at some point. Preparing returning citizens for employment and supporting them through the reentry and employment processes can improve reentry outcomes and strengthen communities. To explore challenges and opportunities associated with improving employment outcomes among BOP releasees, the National Institute of Justice hosted a virtual workshop of BOP staff, community-based reentry service providers, researchers, national employers, and other experts. This RAND Corporation report summarizes discussion points from the workshop and presents a wide-ranging set of needs identified by workshop participants.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment in the American economy spiked to 20 million in mid-2020. While it dropped to 5.7 million in December 2022, the labor market is still in flux, and jobs in some fields remain unfilled. In response, higher education systems and states across the country are turning to community colleges to provide both long- and short-term workforce training programs in high-demand fields. The Virginia Community College System has developed programs for helping adults access training and earn credentials that improve their labor market prospects and provide on-ramps to further education. Two of these programs include FastForward and Get a Skill, Get a Job, Get Ahead. This Accelerating Recovery in Community Colleges Network blogpost introduces two research projects on the programs that will provide information about the associations between postsecondary student aid and student education and workforce outcomes, and how community colleges can build pathways to high-opportunity jobs and careers.

Despite notably high levels of job vacancies due to the Great Resignation, the current job market favors individuals with four-year degrees and advanced credentials. This creates barriers for individuals who are unable to access traditional college degrees, a population that is disproportionally represented by racial and ethnic minorities as well as members of marginalized communities. Registered apprenticeships are a recognized sustainable solution to increase equitable hiring of skilled workers from diverse backgrounds. This UnidosUS fact sheet highlights the existing need for apprenticeship to be incorporated as best practices for recruitment, employee retention, and sustainable hiring practices.

A shift to skills-based hiring instead of degree-based hiring is not only a sensible public sector reform to find qualified workers in a tight labor market but can also unlock economic mobility for millions of workers who have been overlooked for decades. Numerous states are reviewing roles to determine which ones have unnecessary degree requirements, while others have already removed degree requirements from 90% of state jobs. This Brookings blogpost explores these low-cost actions as pathways to open state hiring processes to more applicants and improve economic mobility for qualified workers who have been excluded from state hiring systems.

An estimated 80% of the people served by workforce programs are trauma survivors. Trauma changes the physical elements of the brain in ways that create barriers for survivors to participate in their programs and impact motivation, the job search, employment, and job retention. The National Associate of Workforce Development Professionals is hosting a webinar on July 25, 2023 at 1:00 p.m. CDT where participants will be provided with ways to assist people eliminate this powerful hidden barrier to employment. There is a registration fee for participation.