There are seven million or more working-age men in the United States who are not engaged in the workforce, and a variety of causes for this situation have been suggested. In this publication from the American Enterprise Institute, the authors address several of potential causes for the decline in work activity among these men and discuss policies that could be used to address the issues. The publication also recommends a focus on men with severe barriers to work, such as those with criminal histories or substance abuse issues and men who are noncustodial parents.

Young adults are more likely to avoid poverty if they follow a “success sequence” in this order: earning at least a high school diploma, working full-time, and getting married before having children. This blog post from the Administration for Children and Families describes a recent report from the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Family Studies about millennials following this success sequence. The researchers found that 95% of millennials who married first before having children were not poor, but 72% of millennials who had children before marrying were poor. Millennials were also more likely to make it into the middle or higher end of the income distribution by age 28-34 if they married before having children. The blog post also describes ACF programs that can prevent out-of-wedlock pregnancy and promote healthy marriages.

The Young Adult Internship Program (YAIP) in New York City was recently evaluated; this report from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation presents implementation and early impact results from the evaluation. The YAIP program serves youth between ages 16 and 24 who are disconnected from school and work and offers support services and a temporary paid internship. The early outcomes indicate that program participation did increase the likelihood of employment and higher earnings for these youth, compared to participants in the control group, during the year after random assignment.

This issue brief from MDRC highlights key findings about job training programs that lead to success with various populations, including youth and dislocated workers. Of particular importance are programs with employer engagement and programs that are career-focused, both of which have been shown to be effective when implemented correctly. The brief shares recent innovations in career training as well as lessons learned from successful programs.

In this fact sheet from the Urban Institute, several ways in which states can promote economic development through investment in the workforce are profiled. Occupational and job training, customized training programs, workforce intermediaries, and apprenticeship programs are all discussed as strategies to help states build a skilled labor pool. In turn, the influx of skilled workers can promote economic development by meeting employer needs and supporting the growth of new business.

USAID and the International Youth Foundation put together this report to help youth providers conduct labor market assessments to design demand-driven training programs. The authors provide eight steps to conducting a labor market assessment. First, an organization must assemble a group of advisors and then set goals for the labor market assessment and devise key research questions. Next, they identify target sectors, conduct field research to understand the local labor dynamics of those sectors, and review the findings. Finally, the organization designs the training program and then rechecks and redesigns the training as necessary. The toolkit also includes tips, case studies, and ways to adapt the assessment process to more challenging regions.

This Jobs for the Future report provides recommendations for state community college systems to use real-time labor market information to build better middle-skill pathways in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). First, the authors provide an overview about the hidden middle-skill STEM market and real-time labor market information. Next, they provide five recommendations to support the use of real-time LMI to develop middle-skill STEM pathways. Those recommendations include using real-time LMI as a long-term change strategy, strengthening state-level data systems to support real-time LMI, providing technical assistance to use real-time LMI, and integrating real-time LMI into critical ongoing decision-making.

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration developed a series of online training modules to teach workforce development agencies how to use labor market information. There are five modules available that provide an introduction to LMI and detail how to apply it for job seekers, skills assessment, re-employment, and businesses. There is also a customizable version of the training that workforce development professionals can use in their own states.