Next Generation of Students and Workers

The need to invest more in students and workers has been more urgent amid a few years of a tight labor market,³ despite recent signs of the labor market slowing down relative to the post-coronavirus pandemic period.⁴ Education and training programs are a powerful tool to increase labor force participation, especially among those workers most likely to be left out of opportunities.⁵ Until July 2024, the U.S. unemployment rate had remained at 4 percent or lower for 27 consecutive months,⁶ the longest stretch since the 1960s.⁷ In 2024, job openings in the U.S. economy continue to outnumber the people actively seeking work.⁸ In fact, a majority of workers’ wages are outpacing inflation,⁹ and the economic recovery following the COVID-19 recession has featured historically strong real wage growth.

At the same time, however, labor force participation is still below pre-pandemic rates.¹⁰ Given the demographics of an aging workforce, labor force participation is expected to remain lower, meaning policymakers will have to focus on workforce development to a greater extent.¹¹

Existing models, such as career and technical education, registered apprenticeships, work-based learning, and sectoral training partnerships, are proven methods of preparing students and workers for the labor market.¹² This chapter of the Center for American Progress report “A Progressive Vision for Education in the 21st Century” outlines how policymakers can invest more and look for ways to provide universal access to these opportunities.

Proposal 1: Ensure robust and sustainable funding for workforce development and the national workforce trust

The federal workforce system cannot realize the vision laid out above without adequate funding. Since 2015, the value of funding for WIOA—the law that funds a significant share of the U.S. public workforce system—has not kept pace with the size of the U.S. economy, with inflation plus population growth, or even just with inflation.¹³ The current funding level for the employment and training services portion of WIOA is approximately $400 million to $1 billion short when accounting for these economic measures.¹⁴

Overall, the United States has underinvested in workforce development for decades. It spends just one-fifth of the average that other advanced economies spend on workforce and labor market programs.¹⁵

Sustainable Funding

To establish robust and sustainable funding for workforce development, the U.S. government should establish a national workforce trust (NWT) to sustainably fund training and education programs into the future.¹⁶ This would increase available resources for training and employment by requiring certain size employers to pay into the trust, creating a structure for cost sharing among the private sector and government for training and educating workers, especially since employers have been reducing investments in worker training.¹⁷

The NWT would be jointly governed by a multistakeholder partnership of business, labor, and the public. This partnership would give relevant stakeholders a seat at the table to prioritize future financial stability and economic mobility for workers.

The NWT could serve as a stable source of funding for worker training opportunities as part of a broader domestic artificial intelligence (AI) national strategy. It could also provide additional funding should job loss or displacement occur as these technologies evolve and are implemented across various occupations.

Proposal 2: Guarantee universal access to high-quality training for all workers and job seekers

The United States should have a cradle-to-career approach encompassing early education, K-12, higher education, and beyond. Individuals should understand their educational and training opportunities and have these presented as options as they progress through the education system.

Training and education services and programs should lead to transferable skills and career advancement. Workers and job seekers should have access to lifelong learning and training opportunities to help them pivot at necessary junctures during their careers. The government could create a legal right or guarantee to affordable training for all workers and job seekers. Some countries have a legal right to training for workers and mandate that employers provide a certain number of hours and resources annually.¹⁸ The United States could have a similar requirement to ensure workers receive workplace training. There are incentives for employers, too: Many workers desire training as a benefit, which has been shown to lead to better recruitment and retention.¹⁹

Prepare to Adapt

This would help prepare workers to adapt to the impacts that AI and other emerging technologies will have on nature of work, the labor force, and the economy.²⁰ Workers with jobs affected by these changes might need to retrain or learn new skills, and better access to training opportunities would ensure they could do so more seamlessly.²¹ Three potential vehicles for achieving this goal could be universal individual training accounts (ITAs) for all students and workers, free community college for all states, and increased availability of registered apprenticeships as integrated throughout the education system.

The ITA program through Title 1 of WIOA could offer additional funding and options to students and workers interested in enrolling in training programs.²² ITAs are dedicated funds that participants can use toward state programs on the Eligible Training Programs List.²³ The ITA is established for the individual participant, who can put that money toward an eligible provider. This ensures that there is a prescreened list of training programs. Policymakers could expand ITAs and make them universal for all students and workers, who could flexibly use these funds for training throughout their careers.

Proposal 3: Promote inclusivity in workforce development

The U.S. workforce system should ensure inclusive access to good jobs for historically marginalized and underrepresented workers, including through greater investments in supportive services. Discussions of policies should include and center the lived experiences of workers and communities affected by these policies to improve program design and outcomes. The workforce system should also aim to continue work to increase access for workers with barriers to employment, such as those with disabilities, long-term unemployment, older workers, and young people facing challenging circumstances, among others.²⁴

Improvements to federal disability employment programs would benefit millions of Americans with disabilities across the country.²⁵ In 2023, approximately 1 in 5 people with a disability were employed.²⁶ Although this represents the highest percentage recorded since data were first collected in 2008, in 2023, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was nearly double that of people without disabilities.²⁷

Opportunity youth, or people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are disconnected from school and work, represent another pool of untapped talent and opportunity for economic mobility.²⁸ While favorable labor market conditions in the post-pandemic period have increased labor market participation for young people ages 16 to 19,²⁹ millions still face barriers to employment.³⁰ In 2021, 12 percent of those ages 16 to 24 were opportunity youth—nearly 4.7 million young people.³¹

Even as the employed share of “prime working age” Americans (ages 25 to 54) has recovered to pre-pandemic levels—and in the case of women, now exceeds those levels—employment rates still lag for people ages 55 and older.³²  Over the next decade, older workers (individuals ages 55 and older) are predicted to drive 42 percent of U.S. labor force growth, with women leading the way.³³ In other words, future economic growth will hinge on older workers’ participation in the workforce. While the ranks of older workers have been growing for decades, many need help finding good jobs.

The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) is the only federal employment and training program geared specifically toward people ages 55 and older who want to work but face barriers to securing employment.³⁴ Priority is given to veterans, people with disabilities, people ages 65 and older, people living in rural areas, people with limited English proficiency or low literacy skills, and people with other barriers to employment. About two-thirds of all participants are women, a similar proportion are members of a racial or ethnic minority, and more than 1 in 4 have at least one disability.³⁵

Unfortunately, for years, annual funding for SCSEP has only been able to serve a fraction of those eligible—less than 1 percent.³⁶ Sadly, funding has failed to keep pace with increasing wages and an increasingly older population.³⁷ Enrollment for program year 2023 is estimated at 42,281 individuals.³⁸ Greater funding and scale for SCSEP would allow more individuals to benefit from this program, especially given the anticipated increased demand for these services.

Proposal 4: Prioritize workforce development as a national security and competitiveness imperative

Policymakers should prioritize workforce development as a national security and U.S. global competitiveness imperative. A future administration should create a task force on workforce development to develop a whole-of-government set of recommendations on workforce development and U.S. global competitiveness. This would include analyzing the administration’s efforts to date on industrial policy and priorities for defense and national security goals, as well as creating a forward-looking agenda to coordinate future opportunities.

Given their critical role in the workforce system and as one of the main beneficiaries, employers should also be at the table in these discussions. As seen through the implementation of the CHIPS and Science Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, employers are critical partners in leveraging education and workforce to drive global competitiveness.³⁹ Some companies have invested in developing robust training and education programs for their workers, and we should learn and leverage these experiences and partnerships.⁴⁰

Proposal 5: Modernize federal workforce technology infrastructure

Policymakers—particularly the U.S. Digital Workforce—should modernize the federal workforce technology infrastructure to serve workers and job seekers better,⁴¹ including the CareerOneStop.⁴² Some states, such as New Jersey, have recently done so and could offer best practices for what this might look like nationally to improve career and training navigation for job seekers.⁴³ Additionally, AI could have benefits in the career navigation space, as well as other uses that benefit workers.⁴⁴

Proposal 6: Center workers and their rights in the U.S. workforce system

Promoting a progressive vision for workforce development that centers workers and their rights is important. The models that align workforce development strategy with worker power, living wages, supportive services, and other worker-centered priorities should be prioritized. This could include registered apprenticeships and labor management partnerships. This builds on the industrial policy progress of the Biden-Harris administration and continues to develop policies that align these twin goals.

An essential goal of the federal workforce system should be to support good jobs that provide family-sustaining wages that grow the American middle class and lead to economic mobility. Policymakers should prioritize outcomes around wages first—not just education and training program completion rates, the number of workers trained, high-road training programs, and employers.⁴⁵ Workers should be given a seat at the table, and worker representation should occur at the state and local levels and include union participation. Furthermore, unions provide a place of community and belonging for workers and spaces that promote democracy.⁴⁶ Unions and labor training partnerships are a pathway to good jobs for many American workers, and the federal government should aim to increase these opportunities. The U.S. workforce development system should support workers’ rights, including collective bargaining rights.

Next Generation of Students and Workers Conclusion

A reimagining of the U.S. workforce development system presents policymakers with a crucial opportunity to remake and prepare the next generation for a better future. From opportunity youth to older workers and everyone in between, generations of Americans should benefit from greater investment and access to education and training programs.

Policymakers should aim higher and include new, evidence-based strategies and increased funding and resources for the existing system. Employers, who routinely report difficulty finding workers, would also benefit from such an effort and should be active participants in the design, implementation, and cost-sharing of modernizing the nation’s workforce.

Policymakers should pursue a workforce strategy that centers workers and their rights by ensuring that the jobs created lead to family-sustaining wages, career pathways, and mobility giving rise to a stronger American middle class.

Next Generation of Students and Workers

https://www.oreilly.com/radar/educating-a-new-generation-of-workers/

https://www.techedmagazine.com/category/news-by-industry/