By Tracy Huebner

At WestEd, we continue exploring generative AI’s transformative role in education systems. In this second installment of our blog series, we examine AI technologies in workforce development and their vital role in shaping the future of the workforce, with a focus on how college administrators can harness the technology to better support learners.

What Role Does Generative AI Play in Workforce Development? 

Generative AI (Gen AI), with its ability to create and innovate based on patterns found in vast data sets, is well poised to revolutionize workforce development. As industries evolve at breakneck speeds, the need for a workforce that can adapt and grow with technological advancements has never been more pressing. Gen AI can analyze labor market trends, identify skill gaps, and tailor training programs that meet the precise needs of the evolving job market. 

Strong partnerships between community colleges, universities, and local industries are critical for bridging the gap between education and employment, ensuring that training programs align with real-world workforce demands. Gen AI can play a key role in fostering these collaborations by streamlining communication, facilitating data-driven decision-making, and helping institutions and employers codesign curricula that address emerging skills. By using Gen AI to predict emerging skills and trends, educational institutions can work more closely with employers to ensure training programs are agile and responsive, helping students acquire the skills most in demand in their local job markets.

For example, Gen AI can forecast emerging sectors and the associated skills required, enabling educational institutions to adjust their curricula in real time. This ensures learners are equipped with the knowledge and competencies necessary to thrive in new and future job roles.

Realizing the Potential of Gen AI in Workforce Readiness 

There is enormous potential for a Gen AI system that can sift through millions of job postings to identify common requirements and desired skills across industries. This system could then assist career counselors in providing students with targeted advice on which courses and certifications would most effectively boost their employability. 

To demonstrate the potential of Gen AI in workforce readiness, picture a local community college using Gen AI to tailor career guidance based on real-time labor market data. In this hypothetical, imagine an experienced home health aide and busy mother of three who recently enrolled at the community college to transition into a more advanced health care role with flexible hours and a predictable schedule. 

The Gen AI system could analyze local job trends, income potential, and the student’s specific needs to suggest suitable career paths, such as medical coding, health information management, or telehealth support. These roles align with the student’s experience, offer competitive wages, and are in high demand locally. This demonstrates how Gen AI could help ensure that students receive tailored, data-driven advice that matches their goals and the current job market.

Furthermore, Gen AI–driven platforms can offer personalized learning experiences, adapting in real time to the learner’s pace and style, ensuring that each individual achieves mastery in critical competencies. This personalization is key to engaging and retaining students in workforce development programs, especially adult learners who may be balancing education with work and family responsibilities.

Key Points for College Administrators: Why Leverage Gen AI in Workforce Development?

• Gen AI Can Enhance Career Guidance and Job Readiness: AI can provide personalized career advice by analyzing labor market data and tailoring recommendations based on students’ skills, experience, and local job trends. This helps students make informed decisions and boosts employability.
• Gen AI Aligns Education With Industry Needs: By predicting emerging skill requirements and trends, Gen AI enables colleges to adapt curricula in real time, ensuring that students are learning the skills that are in demand by local employers and industries.
• Gen AI Can Improve Student Engagement and Retention: Gen AI–driven platforms offer personalized learning experiences, adjusting to students’ individual needs and schedules, making it easier for adult learners or those balancing multiple responsibilities to succeed in workforce development programs.

Partnerships for a Future-Ready Workforce 

WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility supports initiatives that foster partnerships between community colleges, universities, and local industries. These collaborations are vital for developing training programs that are responsive to the needs of the workforce.

Your experiences and insights are invaluable to this dialogue. We encourage you to engage with us, share your stories, and join the conversation as we shape a future in which Gen AI not only complements but also elevates workforce development strategies. Together, we build a more adaptive, skilled, and competitive workforce.

Are you interested in using Gen AI to improve how your institution approaches workforce readiness? Contact Tracy Huebner, [email protected], Director of Special Projects and Initiatives for the Center for Economic Mobility, to explore how WestEd can help you develop a future-ready workforce.

What’s Next? 

Our next blog post will explore real-world applications for postsecondary staff and leadership. We’ll highlight how Gen AI–driven strategies can enhance student engagement, improve retention, and create learning experiences that are more personalized. 

Tracy Huebner, Director of Special Projects and Initiatives for the Center for Economic Mobility (CEM) at WestEd, has an extensive background in supporting intersegmental pathways, program design, and strategic planning. She actively maintains relationships with outside funders and presents CEM work in public settings.

By Jenna Howard Terrell, Hayley Spencer, and Alyssa Blanchard

This blog post explores the importance of reengaging stopped-out students and the financial benefits for colleges to reenroll students. We also highlight successful strategies used by colleges to reengage students through financial campaigns.

Why Reengagement Matters 

Across the United States, millions of students start college but don’t complete their degrees, joining a large and often overlooked population of “stopped-out” students. Recent estimates from the National Student Clearinghouse suggest that approximately 40 million students stopped out of college before earning a degree or credential. Many of these students paused their studies due to financial challenges, dependent care responsibilities, or other life circumstances. For students from lower income backgrounds, these barriers to degree completion are often more pronounced. Traditionally, colleges and universities have given limited attention to stopped-out students. However, with enrollment declines since the pandemic, reengaging these students presents an opportunity for institutions to tap into a new pool of learners and fulfill their commitment to improving students’ education and career opportunities. 

Ramifications of Stopping Out 

Students who leave college before completing their programs may face limited career options and lower earning potential because many jobs still require a degree or credential. Additionally, these students often carry student debt without the increased income that a degree would afford, making repayment challenging and further limiting their pathways to greater economic mobility.

Colleges also experience negative ramifications from stop-outs due to lower enrollment numbers and lost revenue. Institutions can recoup some of these losses by stabilizing enrollment and revenue through reengagement strategies. 

When more students return to college and complete their degrees, the economic vitality of the surrounding community often improves as well because graduates tend to have higher earning potential, increased purchasing power, and a reduced need for social services. This ripple effect strengthens the college’s role as a driver of economic and community growth. 

Promising Approaches to Reengagement  

In the past, stopped-out students were left with “stranded credits,” which are college credits that they earned at one institution but that could not be used toward a degree from, or otherwise transfer to, another institution due to outstanding financial obligations. With recent federal regulations curbing the withholding of academic transcripts due to unpaid balances, colleges now have an opportunity to revise policies and implement programs that help reengage students who stopped out because of financial barriers.

Recognizing these dynamics, a growing number of colleges are launching targeted financial campaigns to remove financial barriers to reenrollment. Programs offering microgrants and debt forgiveness, for example, are giving students the chance to come back without the looming burden of financial holds or small unpaid balances. By relieving these financial strains, institutions enable students to refocus on their education and complete their degrees. Programs like Ohio’s Comeback initiative, Georgia State University’s Panther Retention Grants, and City Colleges of Chicago’s Chancellor’s Retention Grant and Fresh Start Program demonstrate how financial incentives can bring students back to campus. These programs provide students with microgrants, offer debt forgiveness, clear debt holds, and provide other supports to help students reenroll and persist in their studies. 

These financial campaigns are proving to be a promising approach to reengaging stopped-out students. A team of researchers at WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility recently partnered with City Colleges of Chicago to evaluate the Chancellor’s Retention Grant, which was implemented as a reengagement strategy from spring 2020 to spring 2022. The Chancellor’s Retention Grant created a pathway for financial support for students to return to campus and generated revenue that exceeded what could have been collected through traditional payment collection methods. What began as a difficult challenge turned into a mutually beneficial solution in three important ways:

• Stopped-out students with at least a 2.0 grade point average were able to receive some debt relief to return to college and continue their studies. 
• The program significantly improved reenrollment among eligible students who previously stopped-out due to unpaid balances to the college. 
• City Colleges of Chicago generated tuition revenue and enrollment growth, tapping into a pool of learners who had already demonstrated motivation to complete a degree or credential at City Colleges of Chicago.

Replicating and Scaling Financial Campaigns 

The success of financial campaigns like the Chancellor’s Retention Grant at City Colleges of Chicago demonstrates that targeting financial support for stopped-out students can drive reenrollment among students with some college and no degree, boost institutional revenue, and positively impact local economies. Replicating and scaling these types of financial campaigns across other colleges and regions could provide similar benefits. By offering microgrants and debt forgiveness in combination with long-term student success supports, institutions can create a framework that not only reengages students but also promotes persistence and completion.

As more colleges consider these strategies, collaboration and shared best practices are crucial. We invite higher education leaders and policymakers to connect with WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility to explore reengagement approaches and how to tailor them to meet their institutions’ unique needs and student populations. Our Center can provide guidance, share insights, and support your efforts in implementing effective reengagement solutions. If you would like to work with the Center to support reengagement strategies at your institution, please contact Senior Researcher Jenna Howard Terrell at [email protected].

 

Jenna Howard Terrell is a Senior Researcher at WestEd specializing in evaluation and applied research to strengthen college-to-career pathways. She leads and supports studies on high school graduation measures, early college experiences, and innovative college reenrollment programs such as the City Colleges of Chicago’s Chancellor’s Retention Grant evaluation.

Hayley Spencer, PhD, is a Research Associate at WestEd specializing in research and evaluation for postsecondary education. She leads projects focused on supporting undergraduate STEM students and college and career readiness and supports the Data Integration Support Center at WestEd. Hayley supports cost-effectiveness analysis for studies such as the City Colleges of Chicago’s Chancellor’s Retention Grant evaluation. 

Alyssa Blanchard is a Research Associate at WestEd. She specializes in study planning, data collection, and analysis, with a focus on programs that improve postsecondary access, student success, and economic mobility. Alyssa leads impact studies of postsecondary reengagement programs such as the City Colleges of Chicago’s Chancellor’s Retention Grant evaluation.

By Quay Dorsey and Valentin Pedroza

In this blog, you will learn how educational institutions leverage systems change in STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) programs by using comprehensive strategies and shared measures to create a foundation for equity and inclusivity in STEM.

For far too long, systemic barriers have limited access to STEM education and career pathways for traditionally underrepresented populations. This has resulted in a lopsided STEM workforce. For example, women make up nearly 50 percent of the U.S. workforce but represent only about 28 percent of the STEM workforce. For people of color, the gap persists—Black workers account for 9 percent of the total U.S. workforce but only 5 percent in STEM, while Hispanic workers represent 17 percent of the workforce but just 8 percent in STEM fields. These gaps in representation not only highlight issues of fairness and social justice but also limit the diversity of thought crucial for breakthroughs in science and technology.

Defining Systems Change in the Context of STEM

Systems change is about reshaping the complex web of factors—policies, practices, resources, relationships, and power dynamics—that perpetuate disparities in STEM fields. It’s a strategic approach to foster long-lasting equity and ensure that STEM opportunities are accessible, inviting, and supportive for everyone, especially those who have been historically marginalized.

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES initiative outlines a strategy to increase STEM equity, and WestEd’s partnership helps to make systemwide change a reality. The work encompasses

• assembling a vibrant network of partners from various sectors committed to STEM diversity and equity;
• developing a suite of shared measures that provide a nuanced understanding of progress across multiple dimensions of STEM inclusivity; and
• harnessing the power of collaboration to amplify and replicate successful equity-driven interventions, effectively promoting systemic reform.

The NSF INCLUDES initiative has illuminated the diverse equity-focused efforts taking place across alliances. For example, some alliances are dedicated to supporting Indigenous students’’ access to STEM, while others concentrate on Latina/o/x inclusivity or the broadening of STEM education to be more universally accessible. These insights have led to the identification of metrics that resonate with the missions of various programs, focusing on enrollment, major selection, graduation, employment, and active participation in STEM initiatives.

WestEd also supports other systems change projects, each in their own unique way rewriting the narrative for groups who are underrepresented in STEM. WestEd serves as a thought partner and evaluator for these projects, offering expert guidance on systems change strategies and conducting rigorous evaluations to ensure their efforts effectively advance equity in STEM education. By targeting different components of systems change—such as policy, practice, resource allocation, and relationships—Creating Access to STEM for All (CASA), Advancing Research and Career Opportunities (ARCOS), and Bioscope projects are forging a path toward a more equitable and inclusive STEM future.

Northeastern Illinois University’s CASA and ARCOS and MiraCosta College’s Bioscope project are examples of systems change in action, aimed at enhancing STEM equity. CASA’s cohort-based approach and culturally responsive curriculum empower Hispanic/Latina/o/x and students from low-income backgrounds, while ARCOS strengthens pathways between 2-year and 4-year institutions, offering critical internship experiences. Bioscope pioneers project-based learning in biomanufacturing, ensuring that students from diverse backgrounds receive practical, industry-aligned education. Collectively, these initiatives demonstrate how targeted changes in policy, practice, and partnerships can dismantle barriers and cultivate an inclusive environment where all students can thrive in STEM.

To bring these principles of systems change to your STEM programs, consider the following actions:

• Evaluate your organization’s policies and practices to identify areas where change is needed to support equity.
• Collaborate with a network of diverse partners to share resources, knowledge, and strategies.
• Use shared measures to track progress, inform decision-making, and demonstrate impact.
• Commit to continuous learning and improvement based on data and feedback.
• Find funding that supports innovative, inclusive initiatives.

The team at WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility is equipped to support educators, policymakers, and community leaders in implementing systems change for a more equitable STEM future. If you are looking to apply these approaches to your initiatives or seeking support in advancing equity within your organization, we encourage you to reach out through our Center for Economic Mobility. By working together, we can continue to build on this momentum and create a lasting impact, ensuring that STEM opportunities are accessible and equitable for all.

Below is a list of funding sources you can leverage to support minoritized students in STEM:

U.S. Department of Education Title III Hispanic-Serving Institutions – Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics and Articulation Programs is aimed at increasing the number of Hispanic and other students from low-income backgrounds attaining degrees in STEM fields and at developing model transfer and articulation agreements between 2-year and 4-year institutions in such fields.

U.S. Department of Education Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) Program – Title V is aimed at assisting HSIs in expanding educational opportunities for, and improving the levels of attainment of, Hispanic students. These grants also enable HSIs to expand and enhance their academic offerings, program quality, and institutional stability.

NSF INCLUDES: This is a comprehensive initiative aimed at broadening participation in STEM education and careers by developing a network of diverse STEM talent.

NSF Advanced Technological Education: This supports partnerships between 2-year institutions of higher education, other academic institutions, industry, and other entities to improve the education of technicians in science and engineering.

 

Quay Dorsey is a Senior Program Manager at WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility. He specializes in equitable data collection, evaluation, and initiatives that close equity gaps for students of color and low-income backgrounds. As a member of the executive team for the NSF Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES Coordination Hub, Quay leads efforts to create and analyze shared measures around systems change and broadening participation in STEM. With a decade of experience in Washington, DC, public schools, he remains committed to promoting sustainable, transformative change in education.

Valentin Pedroza is a Senior Research Associate at WestEd. He has dedicated 18 years to enhancing educational equity through research and evaluation. His expertise in designing and executing evaluation projects informs culturally responsive strategies that support underrepresented groups.

By Rachel Antrobus and Alexandra Lozanoff

In this blog, we share five foundational strategies for building high-quality K-16 pathways in the context of common challenges and emerging possibilities.

In today’s dynamic job market, students need coherent career-focused pathways from high school to college and employment, commonly called K-16 pathways. When education systems aren’t connected, students have to fill in the gap. Educators, industry leaders, and philanthropic organizations widely recognize the importance of creating seamless, supportive, and student-centered K-16 pathways as an ideal model for academic and career development. Yet, pathways are challenging to fund, develop, and sustain. 

K-16 pathways are broadly defined as clear, sequenced coursework and supplemental activities across multiple education segments (i.e., high school, community colleges, and 4-year institutions). These pathways allow learners to explore their interests, identify education and career goals, shift into different pathways using their transferable interests and competencies, and earn academic credentials—all while accumulating skills and qualifications that align with jobs.

The Importance of K-16 Pathways

K-16 pathways are a key strategy for expanding opportunity. Without explicit connections between education segments, the onus is on students to navigate from high school to college and careers on their own. For students with resources and cultural capital, the gaps are typically navigated successfully and seen as an opportunity to explore interests without the pressure of translating education choices into a career. However, for low-income, first-generation college students, the disconnects between education and careers too often translates into difficulties navigating the gaps between high school, college, and career and often results in a lost connection with postsecondary institutions. Education systems and employers can work together to address the structural factors that get in the way of equitable outcomes and provide first-generation college students with the holistic support needed to successfully transition from high school to college and career. 

In California, several initiatives, such as the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program, are providing resources and establishing minimum requirements for K-16 pathways. WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility is supporting the Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program by providing deep technical assistance, including developing implementation plans, facilitating K-16 pathway convenings, and advising K-16 Collaboratives’ leadership teams. The promising practices, strong partnerships, and innovative approaches underway across California–paired with state-level policy changes—offer the promise of meaningful progress toward coherent, career-focused pathways for all students. 

Recommendations

1. Next-step options within pathways: High schools provide at least one community college dual enrollment course, and community colleges include a course that is transferable to a 4-year institution. 

One way to bridge gaps between systems is to ensure students get early access to the next step in their education journeys. For example, high school students can take college courses through dual enrollment, and students in community college can take classes that count toward a 4-year degree. 

To create coherent options for students, high schools, community colleges, and universities need to work together to identify which courses students should be encouraged to take, ensure educators with appropriate disciplinary and youth development backgrounds are recruited to teach the classes, and put systems in place to help students register for courses. They also need to iron out misaligned system requirements such as seat-time minutes, teacher qualifications, and providing sufficient room in school schedules. 

 

2. Employer commitment: All levels of educational programs align with employment opportunities, including opportunities for work as students progress along a pathway. 

Building pathways from high school to college and career requires coordination between education and industry. However, the two sectors often operate in silos, with little ongoing communication or collaboration. This divide can result in a mismatch between the skills that students are taught in school and the skills that are needed in the workforce. If K-16 pathways are to be successful, employers need to commit to advising the pathway curriculum and providing real-world experiences, including work-based learning, and education partners need to have a depth of understanding and the ability to integrate in-demand skills.

Current structures are not well suited for deep engagement between education and industry. Employers may not be engaged until a curriculum has already been developed, and access to employers is often based on individual relationships. By developing regional structures for employer engagement focused on specific industry strategies, a broader range of partners can be engaged to develop action plans around work-based learning opportunities, hiring, and program design. Exemplar partnerships, such as the California Transit Works! statewide consortium, can serve as a model for developing and scaling partnerships between employees, unions, and educators to build worker-driven curricula, training programs, peer mentoring, and registered apprenticeships. 

 

3. Work-based learning: All education segments (K–12, community colleges, 4-year institutions) provide experience-based opportunities that are valued by employers. 

When students gain real-world experience through internships, job shadowing, and project-based learning, they gain confidence early in their academic journeys and are better able to find the career that is right for them. Unfortunately, high schools and colleges lack funding and infrastructure to offer robust, equitable, hands-on training and real-world experience for all students. Work-based learning is one of the most difficult elements to scale, but in every successful scenario, industry partners meaningfully invest by helping students gain real-world experience and making their workplaces “student-ready.” Education partners can support this commitment by providing employers with strategies for welcoming and supporting a diverse group of students. 

Both education partners and employers require funding and staff capacity to support students as they enter new environments, gain new skills, and process their experiences in ways that prepare them for career decision-making and enable them to secure future opportunities. In addition, on-the-ground strategies should be supported by reexamining policies that create barriers, such as fingerprinting requirements or age-restrictions. 

 

4. Student-facing pathway maps: All education institutions provide roadmaps to students that clearly describe course sequences, required levels of education, and employment opportunities. 

To be effective, K-16 pathways need to make educational journeys and career opportunities clear for students and families. Given that students have so many education options, educators can help clarify what types of jobs are available and the different possible pathways to prepare for those occupations. It is critical that, rather than existing in a silo, the roadmaps are instead incorporated into students’ academic lives through the classroom, college preparation, family engagement, advising, and cocurricular activities.

The Los Angeles Regional Consortium is addressing this challenge by making local labor market data available to everyone through an open-source data tool. Practitioners can use this tool to identify high-wage, high-demand jobs available in their region, determine the programs and certifications that prepare students for these jobs, and the pinpoint the skills students need to succeed in their chosen field. Instructors, counselors, student support professionals, and admissions officers can incorporate this information into recruitment materials, counseling, and lesson plans. 

 

5. Articulation agreements: Community college and 4-year institutions ensure that courses are accepted for transfer to shorten time to employment.

Agreements on course articulation are required to maximize the opportunity for community college students to transfer to 4-year institutions. Articulation agreements often are negotiated between individual institutions and require the engagement of administrators, faculty, and academic senates. As a result, students who are considering more than one major or transfer institution are faced with the daunting task of understanding and comparing the many possible combinations of transferable courses and pathways.

Creating articulated transfer pathways that share common general education and major requirements can be a game changer for students’ journeys through K-16 pathways. In California, Assembly Bill 928 and the corresponding Associate Degree for Transfer Intersegmental Implementation Committee outlined a range of recommendations for state-level action to support more equitable transfer, including creating Associate Degrees for Transfer that are recognized by all public 4-year institutions, guaranteeing admissions for transfer students, streamlining transfer pathways in STEM, and reengaging students who completed transfer requirements but have yet to enroll in a 4-year institution. In the meantime, Regional K-16 Education Collaboratives are working to explore new articulation agreements while cocreating solutions to address equity gaps within current transfer pathways.

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Creating K-16 pathways that allow students to reach living wage jobs and respond to workforce demands requires close attention to structures, information flow, and regulations. As California is demonstrating, establishing regional collaboratives that include K-12, community colleges, 4-year institutions, and employers allows practitioners to shift the burden of navigating these systems away from students. 

Rachel Antrobus, EdD is Director of Intersegmental Projects in WestEd’s Economic Mobility, Postsecondary, and Workforce Systems content area where she provides technical assistance to the field, focused on improving college and career pathways within K-16.

Alexandra Lozanoff is a Senior Project Manager in WestEd’s Economic Mobility, Postsecondary, and Workforce Systems content area where she is responsible for designing professional development for postsecondary and workforce development clients.

By Sterling Smith

In this blog, we discuss strategies for bridging the gap between prevalent, low-wage jobs and good jobs that address quality of life and earnings. The blog also highlights a new initiative that aims to address barriers adult learners face while putting them on pathways to good jobs.

The job market can mystify job seekers and educators, but ask either and they can likely talk at length about the current real estate market. Both the job market and real estate market impact our daily lives and have experienced significant shifts over the past few decades, driven by technological advancements, changing demographics, and socioeconomic factors. By examining these parallels, we can better understand how the job market has changed and how this impacts job seekers and educators.

What Makes a Job a Good Job

Much of the current conversation about the real estate market is dominated by the unavailability of affordable housing, just as many individuals in today’s job market struggle with the lack of good jobs. While searching for both jobs and housing, many people primarily consider financials—although dollars and cents are far from the exclusive factor when choosing either. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Good Jobs Initiative has a framework of eight principles that comprise a good job. Outside of providing workers with a living wage, the framework includes

• skills and career advancement;
• organizational culture;
• empowerment and representation;
• diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility;
• benefits; and
• recruitment and hiring.

These principles have direct impacts for job seekers and educators and are important for holistically evaluating what job seekers may want from an employer. In the trucking industry, for example, a study in the journal of Workplace Health & Safety found job turnover was related to issues such as job expectations, long hours away from home, and lack of benefits, among others. While jobs have different requirements and people have different preferences, for educators and job seekers, a more comprehensive approach toward evaluating career opportunities and educational pathways enables a more efficient labor market and reduces time and costs for students.     

Living wages, however, dominate the discussion around what makes a good job. The Living Wage Calculator, developed by Amy K. Glasimer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, defines a living wage as the following:

“What one full-time worker must earn on an hourly basis to help cover the cost of their family’s minimum basic needs where they live while still being self-sufficient.”

The basic needs referenced in the MIT Living Wage calculator include childcare, food, health care, housing, internet and mobile, transportation, civic engagement, other necessities, and income and payroll taxes. Living wages vary based on location and family structure, highlighting the need for both job seekers and practitioners to consider the regional labor market information and living wage data in decision-making. 

Take Los Angeles County, for example: in a family of four with two working adults, each adult needs to earn an hourly wage of $33.24 or $69,139 annually. In comparison, for the same family in Fresno County, each adult needs to earn an hourly wage of $26.79 or $55,723 annually.

Where have all the good jobs gone?

The shortage of good jobs can be likened to the shortage of affordable housing. A number of confounding factors have led to what is called the polarization of the labor market, where middle wage jobs have been eclipsed by growth of high-wage and low-wage jobs. This polarization is reflected in the makeup of our economy. On the low end of the pay scale is the leisure and hospitality industry, which accounted for about 6 percent of jobs in the United States at the beginning of 1950. By the beginning of 2024, that figure had nearly doubled (to 11%). At the higher end of the pay scale, professional and business services saw an even larger gain (from 7% to 15%). Meanwhile, middle skills jobs like manufacturing dropped to a quarter of their prior figures (from 30% to 8%).

Economists like David Autor, Lawrence Katz, and Melissa Kearney argue that the polarization of the labor market can be partially understood through technological advances and the outsourcing of jobs internationally. Other factors have impacted good jobs, including wage stagnation, where workers’ wages remain little changed when accounting for inflation. Wage stagnation has particularly impacted workers in the lower- and middle-levels of the job market. This has coincided with the precipitous decline in the share of workers belonging to a union, which fell by half between 1983 and 2023 (from 20% to 10%), even though studies on unions show that union members have increased benefits and a wage premium between 10 percent and 15 percent. On the bright side, both wage stagnation and union membership have seen some gains recently, for example, union membership increased by approximately 200,000 in 2022.  

How can education systems design bridges across the polarized job market?

Home ownership can feel out of touch for so many, just as securing a good job can be. A college degree continues to be one of the most reliable pathways to securing a good job, with bachelor’s degree graduates typically earning $1.2 million more over their lifetime than workers with a high school diploma. However, if individuals don’t have funds for a down payment on a home or the savings to cover the cost of tuition and living expenses for several years, the only option is to take out sizable loans. A quarter of people over the age of 25 have attended college but have not earned a bachelor’s degree. If colleges want to help more adults cross the chasm between prevalent, low-pay jobs to better options, they will have to redesign the way they engage their communities. For example, to help adults navigate to jobs that better meet their goals and dreams, colleges need to understand the characteristics of jobs in their region and the specific skills and needs of people in their communities. This understanding enables colleges to work proactively to support students across the institution, from advising to wraparound services. Colleges will also need to identify ways to help adults move efficiently through training options to reduce the out-of-pocket and opportunity costs of going back to school. 

WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility is helping turn these ideas into action by supporting a new initiative that is jointly offered by the California Community Colleges (CCC) and the United Domestic Workers (UDW). Domestic workers provide in-home support to children, the elderly, and people who are disabled. These jobs require long hours and physical strength but do not pay a living wage. Domestic workers who are not part of a union often lack health care and do not have consistent schedules, two key elements of what makes a good job. The UDW members who are participating in the initiative are predominantly women of color over the age of 50, many of whom are not fluent in English. 

To help UDW members identify academic programs that will help them make progress toward their goals, WestEd examined jobs that require similar skills, do not require a bachelor’s degree, and continued to be in high demand through both the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. This information was shared with the colleges participating in the initiative at daylong design sessions where they learned about their regional labor markets, the characteristics of UDW members who live near their colleges, and their interests. Educators identified related programs at their colleges and determined the types of supports that would foster success, like offering English as a Second Language courses that teach medical terminology. Importantly, educators moved beyond traditional labor market analyses that look narrowly at projected job openings and wage thresholds. For example, for some UDW members, preparing for a medical assisting position may be an attractive option. While the job does not pay as well as health care positions that require more training, it will provide a consistent schedule, daytime working hours, health care benefits, and the opportunity to sit while working. This work is being done with a data driven and proactive approach to provide support for members, where UDW and the colleges are coordinating on barriers, including transportation, computer and internet access, and course materials.    

Balancing Jobs, Education Pathways, and People

Solving the affordable housing crisis requires innovative solutions that address the supply of housing and the barriers to building and financing. Improving access to good jobs requires equally innovative solutions that build pipelines to good jobs and remove barriers for job seekers. Targeted programs done in partnership with community organizations, such as the UDW and CCC partnership, serve as one example for engaging historically underserved populations and adult learners. Not only are these solutions impactful for individuals, they are key to preserving American competitiveness and productivity. For researchers and educators, solving the good jobs crisis requires data-informed approaches that go beyond our historical understanding of good jobs and are reflective of the populations we strive to reach.

Sterling Smith is a Senior Research Associate at WestEd. Sterling specializes in the intersection of postsecondary education and labor market outcomes. His work includes helping institutions understand how to design and implement programs that are reflective of their regional economy and using a data-driven approach to institutional planning. Sterling is a first-generation college graduate passionate about economic mobility for learners and reducing barriers for underserved individuals.

By Phyllis Pistorino, Svetlana Darche, and Kerry Sherman Headington

In this blog post, we explain the elements and perceived positive impacts of work-based learning, and explore an exciting professional development course that WestEd created for community college faculty to facilitate work-based learning in their courses.

Many of us can remember a time in school when we thought, “When will I ever use this?” Today’s students are no different: a recent Wiley study found that a substantial number of students feel disengaged because they don’t see the connections between coursework and their real lives. Students seek not only relevant, real-world experiences, but also learning that is dynamic and interactive. Additionally, students are concerned with finding a future career that they enjoy, while providing them with a meaningful way to contribute to the world.

What can educators do to foster engagement and a sense of purpose in students? Work-based learning (WBL) is an instructional strategy that supports all students’ learning while preparing them for future careers. The benefits of WBL are myriad: students can build social capital; develop “soft skills,” also known as 21st Century Skills; discover their career interests; begin to define their roles in society; and, most importantly, gain real-world experience. All this can boost their confidence and make them more valuable to employers, ultimately jumpstarting students’ economic mobility, or a person’s ability to earn a living wage and improve their economic status over the course of their lifetime. Both K-12 and college students benefit from WBL, as research shows that starting WBL from an early age provides better outcomes for postsecondary success and career readiness.

Employers also benefit by helping to shape their future workforce. Recent surveys have found that employers are seeking stronger 21st Century Skills in their new hires, namely problem solving, critical thinking, professionalism, communication skills, and adaptability, among others. Employers are increasingly seeking candidates with proven work experience for entry-level jobs; those with internships and other work experience will beat out candidates with only credentials. This movement, called “skills-based hiring,” highlights just how important contextual learning strategies like WBL are as more companies move toward this practice.

What Is WBL? Learning About, Through, and For Work

WBL operates on a continuum ranging from basic career awareness activities, such as guest speakers and job shadowing, to more involved experiences, such as internships, apprenticeships, and paid work placements. It requires a direct connection to curriculum and instruction, as well as first-hand engagement with the tasks of a given career field. While WBL used to be mainly associated with career and technical education (CTE), it’s now prevalent in both secondary and postsecondary institutions, for all students, across disciplines. The following continuum image illustrates the different levels of WBL and how students may progress through WBL activities to build career awareness, engage in career interactions, and participate in career training experiences.

As depicted in the WBL continuum image, students begin to explore careers by learning about work through brief encounters with employers and workplaces. At the second level, students engage deeply with professionals and employers, learning through work, involving the production of goods or services, which supports and expands their classroom learning. The final level, career training experiences, allows students to learn for work, by applying their knowledge in preparation for employment in specific occupations. This process can be cyclical over a lifetime, as students transition from schooling into their first jobs, and then into new occupations and careers as their life progresses.

Beginning with career awareness and exploration allows students to ease into their understanding of careers. An important aspect of WBL is that it allows students to visualize themselves at work. Students need reassurance from people already working in the profession that they can “belong” in that profession. Exposure to work culture and norms, such as how employees behave at work or what they talk about during downtime, can help students understand how they might fit in and bring their own identities and ideas to work.

WBL Supports Equity

Students who participate in WBL gain valuable mentorship and supervision from education and professional leaders, building connections that they may not otherwise have access to, thereby expanding horizons and opening doors to future opportunities that support economic mobility. Students are able to learn and demonstrate their skills and talents in ways that are not always possible in class. Research shows that students who participate in quality WBL are more likely than their peers to get a college-level job and stay in college-level jobs. While unemployment levels for Black and Hispanic or Latino young people remain high, particularly exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the good news is that student participation in WBL coursework is high among the same groups, providing these students with equitable access to opportunities and connections.

WBL in Action: Example From San Diego and Imperial Counties, California

WBL implemented at scale calls for a shift from the traditional notion of “education or work” to a more integrated “education and work” model—breaking down long-standing silos between classroom learning and the world of work. This shift requires significant and dynamic relationship building between educators and industry. The San Diego & Imperial Counties Regional Consortium, comprising 10 community colleges, embarked on this transformational work in partnership with WestEd. Over many meetings and communities of practice, the Consortium

• developed a shared language among all parties
• tracked progress by counting WBL opportunities that students were given
• hired liaisons to build relationships with employers 
• hired WBL coordinators to work with faculty and students
• created an online WBL Professional Development Course for faculty to learn how to integrate WBL into their courses.

One of the Consortium’s greater goals was to make career planning “inescapable” for students. While working with WestEd, leaders in the region recognized that bringing WBL into the classroom is the only effective way to reach all students, and to do that, educators need support. To provide that support, educators throughout the region are invited to participate in the WBL Professional Development Course, which is offered three times a year and administered by WestEd. The WBL course uses an asynchronous cohort-based model on the Canvas platform, where participants review content, engage in discussion forums, and participate in knowledge checks, with the final product being a WBL Lesson Plan in their chosen discipline. Participants exit the course with the lesson plan and a toolbox of downloadable resources they can use with students.

As of Spring 2024, nearly 175 instructors and staff in the region have completed the WBL Professional Development Course. Assuming a course completer leads at least two courses of 30 students in a calendar year, it’s estimated that nearly 10,500 students have been exposed to WBL in just one year! Lesson plans submitted by course completers range from hosting guest speakers in an English as a Second Language course, to completing service learning with local nonprofits for a geography course, to participating in an industry-judged simulated workplace “restaurant war” in a culinary arts course. Instructors who completed the course were enthusiastic—in the end-of-course survey, 100% said they would recommend the course to a colleague, and many realized the benefits of integrating WBL into their instruction.

Watch this video to learn more about the WBL Professional Development Course created for the San Diego & Imperial Counties Regional Consortium.

How You Can Develop WBL Opportunities

WestEd offers expertise in work-based and experiential learning to support learners’ needs in the rapidly changing world. We assist with planning and system development, development of resources and tools, and design and delivery of professional learning, as well as data collection and evaluation processes. We work at the state level, with regional groups, and with colleges and K-12 school districts. The WBL Professional Development Course can be adapted for any region.

Do you want students to engage in real-world experiences and develop the 21st Century Skills employers are increasingly seeking? Are you interested in implementing WBL strategies? Contact the WestEd team at [email protected].

 

Phyllis Pistorino serves as a Program Associate at WestEd, where her efforts are instrumental in advancing projects across adult education, postsecondary education, and workforce development. Her educational journey began at community college, an experience that shaped her conviction in their critical role in transforming students’ lives and uplifting communities.

Svetlana Darche is a Senior Research Associate and Director of Career Education at WestEd. She is responsible for co-leading work in career-related education, workforce development, and adult education, including evaluation, policy research, needs assessment, technical assistance, and materials and tool development.

Kerry Sherman Headington is an education consultant working with WestEd and other organizations at the K-12 and college levels. She works on education research, development, and service projects at the local and state levels and is a Certified Linked Learning Coach. Her passion is in guiding educators and students in experiential and work-based learning as a means to college and career success.