Rethinking workforce development: Policies to protect workers and families

The COVID-19 recession—and its potential for accelerating automation—has exacerbated many inequities within the U.S. economy and reduced opportunities for upward mobility. As evident in recent decades: stagnating earnings, declining labor force participation, and a dearth of programs serving the most vulnerable workers and communities have given rise to the urgent need for a more cohesive workforce development system. It will take bold reforms to expand and scale effective and well-targeted workforce development programs and services; but such reforms are necessary to improve employment outcomes and increase credential attainment among workers with the greatest risk of being displaced.

On Tuesday, February 16, The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution hosted a webcast examining policy options to improve workforce development in the U.S. The webcast featured a fireside chat between former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, chairman and founder, PSP Partners, and former Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Jason Furman, professor of the practice of economic policy, Harvard University.

The webcast also included a research presentation on automation trends in the labor market by Hamilton Project Policy Director Kristen Broady, followed by a roundtable discussion with: Harry Holzer, John LaFarge Jr. SJ professor of public policy, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy; Lawrence Katz, Elisabeth Allison professor of economics, Harvard University; Madhuri Kommareddi, director of workforce development, State of New York; and Marc Morial, president and CEO, National Urban League. The roundtable discussion will be moderated by Hamilton Project director Wendy Edelberg.

The webcast coincided with the release of a new Hamilton Project policy proposal by Harry Holzer (Georgetown University) which offered reforms to expand cost-effective workforce development programs and services, while increasing firms’ incentives to retrain workers rather than displace them with automation.

For updates on the event, follow @HamiltonProj and join the conversation using #WorkForceDev to ask questions or by emailing [email protected].