New Department of Labor funding supports 20 projects across 17 states, with an emphasis on moving dislocated workers into high-demand jobs within six months. The U.S. Department of Labor announced on October 19, 2026, that it has awarded $95.5 million in grants to help workers affected by layoffs acquire new skills and return to employment.
As economic, technological, and social challenges become increasingly interconnected, workforce professionals are finding that many of the issues shaping employment fall outside traditional training and placement programs. For decades, workforce development has concentrated on a familiar challenge: helping individuals develop the skills employers need and connecting qualified workers with available jobs. Career counseling, employment assistance,
Workforce Development Is No Longer Just About Workforce Development Read More »
U.S. employment is projected to grow by 5.9 million jobs over the next decade. The greater challenge is helping people and employers navigate where demand is changing. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that total employment will grow 3.5% between 2025 and 2035, adding about 5.9 million jobs. Growth will be uneven. Healthcare occupations
What if the barrier keeping a qualified applicant from a job isn’t their preparation—but the hiring system itself? Automated screening tools now influence who advances, who is rejected, and who may never be seen by a human decision-maker. A closely watched lawsuit involving Workday raises important questions about the risks these systems can create. The
The Hidden Risk in Automated Hiring Read More »
For generations, looking for work followed a familiar pattern. You found an opening, submitted an application, and hoped someone noticed you. That system still exists, but it is becoming less dependable. Online applications have made it easier to apply—and easier for hundreds of other people to apply for the same position. Employers now face enormous
The New Job Search: Becoming Findable Read More »
What recent state and federal decisions mean for workforce staff and the people they serve If you work in the public workforce system, big changes are underway. They’re easy to miss because they’re arriving in pieces. Earlier this month, the federal government approved Arkansas’s plan to replace its ten local workforce boards with one statewide
The Workforce System Is Changing, One Piece at a Time Read More »
What happens when the work is still there—but the employer’s commitment becomes shorter? Temporary, contract, and project-based work are changing how opportunities are created, how job seekers evaluate offers, and how workforce professionals advise the people they serve. In this episode of Observations, we examine: • Why temporary employment is becoming more important • How
Is Temporary Work Reshaping the Job Market? What Job Seekers Need to Know Read More »
We often talk about “the job market” as though everyone is experiencing the same thing. They aren’t. A new analysis from the Indeed Hiring Lab offers a useful reminder that whether it is easy or difficult to find a job can depend enormously on where someone lives. Indeed examined labor-market conditions in more than 800
There Isn’t One U.S. Job Market Read More »
For the last couple of years, much of AI training has focused on prompting: how to ask better questions, give clearer instructions and get better answers from tools such as ChatGPT. That is starting to change. As AI becomes part of everyday work, employers are likely to care less about whether someone knows a few
AI Training Is Changing. Workforce Development May Need to Change With It Read More »
For the past several years, workforce professionals have been hearing increasingly dramatic predictions about what artificial intelligence will do to jobs. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is now offering a more measured way to look at the question. Along with its new employment projections for 2025 through 2035, released August 27, BLS introduced something
AI Exposure Is Not the Same as Job Loss Read More »