This paper is a part of the Urban Institute's Unemployment and Recovery Project, an initiative to assess unemployment's effect on individuals, families, and communities; gauge government policies' effectiveness; and recommend policy changes to boost job creation, improve workers' job prospects, and support out-of-work Americans. This paper discusses the Great Recession and the high unemployment that followed, as well as how the workforce system responded to challenges, its performance over the past five years, and the adequacy of its funding system. It concludes that the American public policy response to the Great Recession was unbalanced and did not fully serve the immediate needs of unemployed workers by adequately funding reemployment and training services.

The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) released a report in June 2012 analyzing the dramatic shifts in the global labor markets over the past several decades, causing blatant skill and wage gaps across the world. This report addressed the trends in advanced economies, with the creation of high-paying jobs for those workers who have attained high levels of education, and the stagnant wages and job losses for those workers with low educational attainment. Income trends within the United States are discussed, as well as predictions of labor market dynamics for the next two decades.

The Brookings Institute posted an article that discusses the results of November's employment analysis for the United States. This article explores whether America's economic future looks brighter today than it did four years ago, finding that the data indicates it does. Today's employment report showed that the nation's unemployment rate was essentially unchanged at 7.9 percent in October, and remained below 8 percent for the second month in a row. Reasons for the recent improvement in economic stability is addressed, a comparison between the current economic market and that of 2008, as well as an explanation of the evolution of job gaps since 1997.

Given employment challenges facing our nation's veterans, the "Guide to Leading Policies, Practices & Resources: Supporting the Employment of Veterans and Military Families" is the product of a collaborative effort of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) and more than 30 private sector employers and supporting organizations, whose activities are reflected throughout the report. Included are: promising practices, lessons learned and innovations tied to the recruitment, assimilation, retention and advancement of vets in the workforce. The guide represents a response to calls for a shared resource for American employers to adopt a strategic and sustainable approach to the advancement of veterans in the civilian workforce, and serves to advance employment and economic opportunities for vets and their families. The publication is one of the most comprehensive efforts to-date focused on providing actionable strategies and resources to advance the employment situation of the nation's veterans and military families.

In 2011, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) joined the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), DirectEmployers Association, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies and Facebook to create the Social Jobs Partnership, an initiative to help job-seekers leverage their online networks to support their job searches. In November 2012, the partners released a Facebook app that will help users share more than 1.7 million job opportunities from five recruiting organizations. The Social Jobs Partnership is about connections: connecting the public and private sectors, connecting employers and workers, and connecting existing skills with business needs. This app will help job-seekers take advantage of those connections to find good jobs.

The United States Department of Labor's career Web site for Veterans allows the user to enter their military classification and see what civilian careers best match their skills. A new feature of the site allows the user to find available national certifications that are accredited, industry endorsed, related to military occupational specialties, and more. Veteran customers can also use the "Check Out My State" feature to discover which States have an "above average" or "below average" share of a career within their workforce.

MDRC issued a report on the Work Advancement and Support Center (WASC), an innovative program designed to increase the incomes of low-wage workers. The program offered participating workers intensive employment retention and advancement services, including career coaching and access to skills training. It also offered them easier access to work supports in an effort to increase their incomes in the short run and help stabilize their employment. The findings showed that increased access to training for low-income workers appears to be a critical part of any advancement strategy, yet the earnings gains associated with participation in training may be short-lived if participants are not given more guidance about the right types of training to pursue or opportunities for additional training.

ExploreVR (vocational rehabilitation) is a web application that provides State vocational rehabilitation (VR) agencies easy and convenient access to a range of VR and related data for planning, evaluation, and decision-making. Overall, this data-sharing effort seeks to increase knowledge about the public VR program and its role within the larger employment and disability service system within and across States and territories.

The American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), through its "Pathways Initiative," is forging a vision for a transformed human service system. This policy brief is one of a series from APHSA addressing specific policies and recommendations that support the four outcome impact areas identified under their Pathways Initiative: participating in community life, earning income, reducing dependence on public benefits, and contributing to communities by becoming workers and taxpayers. This brief supports the outcome of Gainful Employment and Independence, for persons with disabilities.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics published a news release stating in-depth the employment situation for October 2012. This release covers employment statistics by race, gender and employment type. Analysis of recent statistics found that the total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 171,000, that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 7.9 percent and that employment rose in professional and business services, health care, and retail trade.