In the Workforce Development Insights section of MAX Mondays, you will find insights from experts ranging from consulting powerhouses such as Accenture and McKinsey & Company, thought leadership thinktanks such as The Aspen Institute and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, national voices such as the National Association of Workforce Boards and National Skills Coalition, and more. These insights provide workforce partners with a quick read on trends and issues affecting the work we do in workforce development.
Here is just a sampling of insights shared in our latest MAX Mondays:
- From Accenture: Out of global crisis comes a new world of opportunities. This past year, business models have been reinvented. Supply chains have been restructured. Promises of new scientific breakthroughs have been suddenly realized. Productivity, we now know, can thrive virtually. In the process of tackling global challenges that even the most forward-thinking leaders never fathomed, organizations have transformed. How do we capitalize on this new momentum? How do we accelerate the innovation we have tapped? How do we optimize for the new global reality? Click here to read more.
- From The Aspen Institute: Millions of workers in the U.S. rely on social policy to sustain them during challenging times—from unemployment to food insecurity, social safety net programs allow people to participate more fully in their lives and the economy despite financial uncertainty. As one of the foundational programs of the social safety net, Social Security ensures a basic level of financial support for people as they age. Shifting demographics combined with little policy change has pushed this program into crisis, with reserves predicted to be depleted as early as 2035 without intervention. Yet, Social Security presents a model of exactly the type of benefit workers need in the 21st century—portable across jobs and available to all workers. Click here to read more.
- From the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta: The pandemic has forced everyone to rethink many things: how we work, how we conduct business, how we communicate with others, and how we use technology, among other things. But could it have helped push millennials and Gen Z-ers to think more positively about taking financial risks? Click here to read more.
- From McKinsey & Company: Among high-income countries, cases caused by the Delta variant reversed the transition toward normalcy first in the United Kingdom, during June and July of 2021, and subsequently in the United States and elsewhere. Our own analysis supports the view of others that the Delta variant has effectively moved overall herd immunity out of reach in most countries for the time being. The United Kingdom’s experience nevertheless suggests that once a country has weathered a wave of Delta-driven cases, it may be able to resume the transition toward normalcy. Beyond that, a more realistic epidemiological endpoint might arrive not when herd immunity is achieved but when COVID-19 can be managed as an endemic disease. The biggest overall risk would likely then be the emergence of a significant new variant. Click here to read more.
- From the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB): Workforce boards now find themselves in a pivotal moment in time, thanks to another (nearly) $2 trillion, in the form of the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The ARP is a massive infusion of stimulus into new and existing federal programs, state and local governments, businesses, and households. It is intended to accelerate the nation’s pandemic recovery. If spent wisely, it will do that and more – helping America “build back better.” Workforce boards will play a critical role in pandemic recovery. The governments responsible for spending ARP dollars need workforce boards as partners to develop strategy, design programs, and deliver services to put people back to work. Click here to read more.
- From the National Skills Coalition: Investments in skills training and supportive services are critical to an inclusive economic recovery. The businesses and workers most impacted by the pandemic – women, people of color, immigrants, and their families – need Congress to invest in training and supports that are essential components of any effort to revitalize the labor market. That’s why NSC is fighting for a generation-defining $100 billion investment in equitable skills policies that contribute to an inclusive economic recovery. That’s the amount we need to respond to the pandemic’s impact on the workforce and the decade worth of digital and technological change that happened in just the last year. Click here to read more.
Here is a complete list of all organizations currently represented in Workforce Development Insights: Accenture, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Aspen Institute, Brookings, Center for American Progress, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Checkr, Chmura, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, Credential Engine, Emsi, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Gallup, Jobs for the Future, JPMorgan Chase Institute, Manpower, McKinsey & Company, Migration Policy Institute, National Association of Colleges and Employers, National Association of Counties, National Association of Workforce Boards, National Conference of State Legislatures, National League of Cities, National Fund for Workforce Solutions, National Skills Coalition, Prosperity Now, Rework America Alliance, Roosevelt Institute, Society for Human Resource Management, Southern Regional Education Board, Strada Education Network, WorkforceGPS, Workforce Monitor, and WorkingNation.
In addition, this section includes links to data tools provided by regional and national experts including: Atlanta Regional Commission, Brookings, Chmura, Emsi, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Georgia Power, Neighborhood Nexus, Prosperity Now, Surgo Foundation, and the University of Georgia’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government.
Click here to access more Workforce Development Insights.
Looking for more insights? The MAX Resource Library is a central place to find reports and studies, data tools, websites and online portals, and other sources of information related to workforce development.
Click here to access the MAX Resource Library.
Hope this is helpful!