The student workforce plays a substantial part in several low-paying industries such as retail and hospitality, and this has grown over time. However, there has been little recent research. The usual assumption is that students compete successfully with the local labour force for low-skill, part-time jobs, but there is little evidence for this.…

Claims that low-skilled young people, and especially the men among them, are being excluded from the labour market have been influential over recent decades, contributing to an increasing concern over the issue of early school leaving. In this study, we use high-quality administrative data and sequence analysis to investigate the school-to-work…

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown a stark spotlight on need for digital skills among a wide swath of the American workforce. But even before the pandemic, the US labor market reflected a growing demand for workers across industries to have strong digital skills. This report uses data from a rigorously designed international assessment to analyze…

Federal investments in education are crucial so that students are prepared for success in a 21st Century global society and workforce. Investing in education is crucial to ensuring the future health of the economy and country's global competitiveness. Many students are not prepared for success in 21st Century society and to fill current and future…

The research investigation into the career trajectories of low-skilled, mid-career individuals in Europe, on which this symposium focused, has emphasised the importance of career support. Participants sometimes had not even completed their initial school qualifications. Often, though not always, they had significant skill deficits. The majority of…

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,…

The United States faces an increasing gap between the skills possessed by its workforce and those that are necessary to succeed in the 21st century economy. This gap poses a threat to the financial wellbeing of low-skilled American workers and their families and to the nation's long-term economic growth. Recognizing the threat posed by these…

Illinois is investing in bridge programs as a strategy to help more low-skilled and low-wage workers improve their skills, acquire postsecondary credentials, and move up to better jobs. This guidebook is built on early lessons of bridge programs in Illinois. It is designed as a resource for those who want to develop a new bridge program or…

The Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) continues to build and expand opportunities for adult education students to transition into college and the workforce. Through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the ICCB will better align services with the core partners to assist students in accessing career pathway instructional and…

With high unemployment and structural changes to industry, workforce development in the United States is a growing concern. Many semiskilled workers lack knowledge, skills, and abilities to be competitive for reemployment to green jobs. Nebraska's syNErgy research grant was introduced to address the training needs of unemployed and underemployed…

The U.S. energy sector has become highly innovative in developing and applying new technologies. These innovations often require higher-paid, more-highly skilled labor, yet many employers in the region report that they have difficulty filling jobs, particularly for medium-skilled (or semi skilled) positions that require only a high school…

By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the economy will require postsecondary education and training beyond high school. That's a pretty strong statement in defense of the value of higher education in this country. But it will mean little unless the nation's colleges and universities--and, specifically, community colleges--can produce more workers…

"The Road to Recovery: Projecting U.S. Job Growth and Higher Education Demand through 2020" (this issue, p26-29) presented six key indicators that highlighted the latest in education and employment needs for the success of the future jobs market. While the U.S. economy is growing, questions still remain: What skills do employers value…

The current economic climate in the United States and the difficulty employers face in hiring and maintaining a skilled workforce in an increasingly competitive and global economy have generated interest in developing and promoting policies and programs that can most effectively help low-skill individuals gain job skills and move up the economic…

The economic reform policies are being introduced in India in phases since 1990. It demands for competent middle level skilled manpower in country. By keeping this in mind, National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi, India introduces a revised policy in 1992 and promotes vocational education. Today, several…