Insights for Workforce Developers and Employers

RECENT ARTICLES

• From Accenture: Supply chains keep expanding, and their complexity rises with every new node, promise and rule. For decades, leaders have matched that complexity with headcount. That approach no longer works at today’s pace. Our projections show demand across core US supply chain occupations will rise by 1.34 million roles (19%) from 2026 to 2035. Over the same period, the labor force will grow by about 3.2%, adding roughly 221,000 workers. The implied gap reaches nearly 1.1 million roles. Click here to read more. 

• From The Annie E. Casey Foundation: Out-of-school sus­pen­sion can sig­nif­i­cant­ly increase the chances that young peo­ple become involved in the juve­nile jus­tice sys­tem, accord­ing to new research fund­ed by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Accord­ing to School Dis­ci­pline, Juve­nile Jus­tice Sys­tem Involve­ment, and Aca­d­e­m­ic Attain­ment: Insights from Mass­a­chu­setts High School Stu­dents, among high school stu­dents fac­ing the high­est risk of court involve­ment, a sin­gle out-of-school sus­pen­sion raised the like­li­hood of court involve­ment from 31% to 49%. Repeat­ed sus­pen­sions fur­ther increased that risk. Click here to read more. 

• From The Aspen Institute: The chorus of public opposition to data centers grows louder every day. This outcry is multifaceted, covering deeply held concerns about resource depletion, a lack of community consideration and benefit, and broad concern around corporate overreach. More generally, this backlash reflects unaddressed public anxiety about AI’s negative impacts on both local communities and society as a whole. Server farms have become the most physical, visible symbol of the AI value chain, which has made them an easy target for public opposition. Click here to read more.

• From Brookings: Research shows that people readily apply human traits to technical systems. In everyday conversation, that framing may be harmless. In policy, however, human-like framing can blur responsibility and reinforce the misconception that AI systems act independently of the people and institutions that design, build, configure, and deploy these systems. In policy contexts, unclear framing can obscure accountability, weaken implementation, and reinforce industry narratives that dilute oversight. Click here to read more. 

• From Center for American Progress: States across the country have made progress in recent years toward expanding access to affordable, high-quality child care—but they face immediate and ongoing challenges. Child care is still unaffordable in every state, and an estimated 46 percent of America’s children under age 6 live in a licensed child care desert. Even with both parents working—which is the case for more than two-thirds of the nation’s children—child care costs can consume huge portions of household income, and child care options are made even more scarce by low wages that drive early educators from the field. Click here to read more. 

• From Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Rental assistance bridges the gap between a family’s income and rent, helping prevent evictions and reduce homelessness for renters with low incomes — the people who struggle the most with affordability — such as workers in low-paying jobs or people on fixed incomes, including older adults or people with disabilities. Despite the need for and effectiveness of these programs, only 1 in every 4 low-income renters who need assistance actually receives it due to funding limitations. With the cost of food, rent, utilities, and gas rising, rental assistance is critical in helping families afford the basics. Click here to read more. 

• From Economic Policy Institute: What is striking is that the AI exposure among young college graduates is considerably higher than that of young noncollege workers. If AI was driving labor market outcomes, we’d expect young college graduates to fare worse in today’s economy, e.g., see larger declines in employment or faster increases in unemployment. But, when we compare unemployment rates, both groups experienced similar increases in unemployment over the last two to three years. Click here to read more. 

• From FedCommunities: The interactive, web-based tool can help users see how the job skills used at a current or recent job can transfer to one with higher income potential in the same geographical area. It can also help workforce development practitioners show job seekers the options and skills needed for certain careers. The OME taps into the power of skills-based hiring. When employers hire based on skills instead of titles and credentials, workers can experience greater economic mobility, and employers can draw on a broader pool of talent. Click here to read more. 

• From the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta: Using transaction data from a payments survey in the United States, we analyze how consumers across income groups changed their spending between 2021 and 2025. We find that spending by consumers with high household income (fourth and fifth quintiles) grew substantially faster than spending by consumers with low household income (first to third quintiles), a pattern that holds across total spending, grocery spending, and spending on necessities. Both groups saw spending increases, but the gap in growth rates points to a widening of consumption inequality across the income distribution. Click here to read more. 

• From Gallup Workplace Insights: The United States has the largest gap of any country in job market perceptions between younger and older adults, with the former feeling much less positive. In 2025, 43% of Americans aged 15 to 34 said it was a good time to find a job locally, 21 percentage points lower than for Americans aged 55 and older. It is rare for younger adults to be significantly less positive about local job conditions than the oldest age group. Click here to read more. 

• From the International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP): When most people think about Registered Apprenticeships, the image is still tied to traditional trades—roles with long-established pathways and clear progression. That remains true. But it is no longer the full picture. A recent announcement from the U.S. Department of Labor signals something important: apprenticeships are moving directly into the world of artificial intelligence. Not as a future concept, but as a practical, present-day strategy. Click here to read more.

• From Jobs for the Future: As economic conditions evolve and political environments change, apprenticeship has been repeatedly positioned as a practical solution to connect workers to opportunity while helping employers fill critical roles. The current push toward one million apprentices reflects the latest phase of a long-running national effort to scale a model that has consistently delivered results but has been challenging to scale to the levels that policymakers have sought.  This brief provides JFF’s analysis of where the current slowdown is coming from, which states and sectors present the largest growth opportunities, and what specific actions can accelerate the path to one million. Click here to read more.

• From JPMorganChase: As part of National Small Business Month, JPMorganChase announced nearly $40 million in new philanthropic investments to expand access to capital for entrepreneurs across the country – helping more businesses start, grow, and hire in the communities they call home. By strengthening lending capacity, technical assistance, and local small business support systems, this funding is expected to help thousands of small businesses nationwide access over $500 million in capital—13 times this philanthropic investment—and create or retain about 6,000 jobs. Click here to learn more.

• From Manpower: The aerospace and defense (A&D) industry is not yet doing enough with underrepresented talent pools. Significant potential to contribute to A&D exists among women, those from diverse backgrounds, and those in underrepresented communities. We watch as industries like financial services move to skills-based hiring, assessing people based on transferable competencies and finding great talent in unexpected places. There’s no reason A&D can’t do the same. Click here to read more.

• From McKinsey & Company: Strategic expansion into commercial insurance could generate meaningful growth for provider-led health plans (PLHPs). Those that combine product innovation, pricing precision, and differentiated go-to-market execution can translate their clinical integration into true competitive advantage. It’s a propitious moment. Employers are seeking affordable, quality-driven solutions, which PLHPs are well positioned to deliver while improving care coordination, access, and affordability for members. Click here to read more.

• From the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE): Internship programs are about more than just getting quality hires in the door: Retention metrics reported in NACE’s 2026 Internship & Co-op Report demonstrate the long-term ROI of having a program. According to the report, more than three-quarters of new hires who had an internship with the employer are retained after one year, and more than half remain with the organization after five years. The retention rates remain elevated for employees with internship experience at other organizations; nearly two-thirds remain after one year and nearly half stay on after five years. Click here to read more.

• From the National Association of Counties (NACO): On May 20, the U.S. House of Representatives passed (396-13) an amended version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act (H.R. 6644). The revised legislation reflects direct feedback from counties and includes several NACo-supported changes that reduce local financial risk and preserve county flexibility in administering housing and community development programs. Click here to read more.

• From the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB): Apprenticeship is one of the most practical, proven strategies we have to strengthen our workforce and our economy. Even for those of us who have been doing this work for years, it’s worth stepping back and naming what makes apprenticeship so effective. It starts with alignment. Apprenticeship meets employers where they are. Instead of asking businesses to adapt to available talent, it gives them a way to shape it. Training becomes relevant, immediate, and tied directly to real work. Click here to read more. 

• From the National Conference of State Legislatures: As this year’s legislative sessions wind down, the directions states are taking on tax legislation is becoming clear. State tax landscapes have largely been defined by a divergence in approach and capacity. While some states have focused on incremental tax code shifts, others have made more significant moves aimed at either protecting revenues or reducing burdens on constituencies. These choices have often depended on underlying fiscal positions. States with stronger reserves and relatively stable revenues have been better positioned to provide tax relief, while states facing tighter conditions or growing uncertainty have been scrambling to raise revenue. Click here to read more. 

• From the National League of Cities (NLC): Today, data are ubiquitous, considered an essential component of organizational decision-making, grant applications and other essential aspects of work in public service. But city leaders rarely receive formal training on how to interpret, use and communicate about data effectively, leaving municipal leaders without a crucial tool in the work they do to help communities. At the same time, people across the country are asking their elected leaders for transparency in how they use data to guide governing decisions. Click here to read more.

• From the National Fund for Workforce Solutions: Inflation is on the rise again, and many families are struggling to make ends meet. Childcare and transportation costs soar while wages stagnate. These pressures are especially acute for workers in low-wage roles, which account for nearly half of U.S. employees. These workers are more likely to be women and people of color, deepening racial and gender inequities in income and wealth. Click here to read more.

• From the National Skills Coalition: The Department of Education has released the final rules for states and institutions of higher education to utilize when implementing Workforce Pell Grants. These rules mark an important next step in shaping how states, community colleges, and other eligible institutions implement Pell Grants for short-term, high-quality programs that expand access to good jobs while ensuring businesses — especially small and mid-sized businesses— strengthen talent pipelines. Click here to read more.

• From Prosperity Now: Financial scams are becoming more sophisticated, faster-moving, and harder to identify in real time, especially for community-based financial institutions and the individuals and small businesses they serve. To help address this challenge, Prosperity Now announced a new partnership with Alumbra to develop an accessible, AI-powered scam prevention platform designed to help community-based financial institutions and their clients identify suspicious activity, better understand potential risks, and take action before financial losses occur. The initiative is supported through a new philanthropic investment from JPMorganChase as part of the firm’s broader national efforts to strengthen fraud and scam prevention. Click here to read more. 

• From the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): There’s a striking disconnect — despite the rapid growth of artificial intelligence within the HR function, many HR leaders are not keeping pace with AI policies. Recent findings from SHRM’s AI in HR report reveal that as of February 2026, 19 of the most populous U.S. states have enacted AI laws or regulations affecting employment-related decision-making and transparency. Still, 57% of HR professionals working in those states say they are unaware of the policies governing their use of AI. Click here to read more. 

• From the Urban Institute: Registered Apprenticeships are a proven solution for helping employers meet their talent needs and workers gain the skills to access high-quality career pathways. Yet only a small fraction of employers and workers participate in the apprenticeship system. Further, research shows that small and medium-sized businesses (those with fewer than 100 employees, or between 100 and 499 employees, respectively) both experience the greatest return on investment from Registered Apprenticeship programs and face the greatest financial and administrative barriers to participating in the Registered Apprenticeship system. Click here to read more.

• From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: New technologies are making pricing more dynamic, personalized, and sometimes harder for consumers and rivals to observe and compare. These shifts raise familiar questions about the line between competition policy and consumer protection, and how antitrust should treat pricing practices that may increase efficiency or output while reshaping how prices are discovered and experienced in the market. Click here to read more. 

• From Workday: The IT lifecycle is predictable. A new hire joining the company needs equipment and systems access. A manager changing roles needs new permissions. An employee leaving the company triggers device returns and account deactivation. All of these events originate in Workday. However, the actual fulfillment often happens elsewhere in ticketing queues, manual spreadsheets, or ad-hoc approvals. Click here to read more.

• From Workforce Monitor: Staffing employment edged down during the week of May 11–17, with the ASA Staffing Index decreasing by 0.2% to a value of 88. Staffing companies cited no one particular factor that hindered growth. Staffing jobs were 4.8% higher compared with the same period last year, up from 4.6% recorded the previous week. New starts, however, increased in the 20th week of the year, up 6.9% from the prior week. More than half of staffing companies (54%) reported gains in new assignments week to week, above the average of 41% so far in 2026. Click here to read more. 

• From WorkingNation: There’s no single definition of rural America. Some rural communities are a small, but bustling, town center surrounded by vast swatches of farm land. Other communities are mountainous with a few homes and businesses scattered about the region. What they have in common is a population that wants to live and work in a community that offers a slower pace of life, one with financial stability. Providing quality jobs is key to making that happen. It takes a coalition of partners to make it work. While the number of U.S. farms continues a slow decline, and with tech playing an expanding role in all industries, the rural American job market is diversifying. The shift from traditional agricultural jobs towards manufacturing, clean energy, and health care is creating new opportunities that can provide that economic mobility and security. Click here to read more.

• From WorkRise: American workers face multiple challenges, including rising prices, a growing role of artificial intelligence in the workplace, and uncertain federal budgets and policy. These challenges compound the difficulties of an already weakening US labor market. Workforce research and investment must continue adapting to this evolving landscape, and insights from the WorkRise Field Survey can help focus those efforts. Click here to read more.

Click here to return to the MAX Mondays main page.

DATA TOOLS

• From Atlanta Regional Commission: Each week ARC, in partnership with Neighborhood Nexus, provides updated research and analytics through the 33^on blog. From a look at dhousing, rental rates, and cost of living to the job market and latest on wages, this blog .is a one-stop portal to a treasure trove of local and regional data. Click here to learn more.

• From Brookings: Using data from hundreds of thousands of real job transitions, the Job Mobility and Smart Growth Toolkit shows how workers can advance through labor markets—featuring national and city-by-city data on wage levels, local labor demand, and job mobility rankings for 441 occupations, from retail salespeople to cooks to computer programmers.  Click here to see the toolkit.

• From Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA): BEA is part of the United States Department of Commerce is a U.S. government agency that provides official macroeconomic and industry statistics, most notably reports about the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States and its jurisdictions. Click here to access the data.

• From Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): BLS is a unit of the United States Department of Labor and the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government with detailed labor economics and statistics. Click here to access the data.

• Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster (CLIFF): Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster, or CLIFF, is an umbrella for interactive financial planning tools designed by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta to provide information about benefits loss along a career path. Click here to access CLIFF.

• From Eviction Lab: The Eviction Lab Tracker shows the past year’s eviction statistics for five Atlanta counties and area census tracks. Click here to learn more.

• From FedCommunities: FedCommunities is offering Using Qualitative Research to Understand the Economy: A Toolkit for researchers, policymakers, employers, and workforce organizations interested in engaging directly with the populations they serve to elevate those populations’ perspectives in policy, programming, and practice. Research that engages communities as equal partners can yield unique, authentic results. This new Worker Voices Project toolkit, “Using Qualitative Research to Understand the Economy: A Toolkit,” offers insights on the community-engaged qualitative research practices used for the Fed’s Worker Voices Project and shows how researchers, policymakers, and workforce organizations might use these methods in their own work. Click here to access the toolkit. 

• From the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity (CWEO): The Atlanta Fed maintains a variety of data intelligence tools for informing workforce partners. Click here to learn more.
  • The Atlanta Fed’s Job Calculator determines the net employment change needed to achieve a target unemployment rate after a specified number of months. The user can adjust the target unemployment rate, the number of months, and the assumed labor force growth.
  • Labor Force Participation Dynamics provides data on the behavioral, demographic, and cyclical factors associated with labor force participation.
  • The Labor Market Distributions Spider Chart allows monitoring of broad labor market developments by comparing current conditions to those in up to two earlier time periods that the user selects.
  • Labor Report First Look provides a concise view of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Situation Summary. The tables and charts in the First Look offer a quick look at current and historical data along with data constructed from the summary. Data in the First Look will be updated with each release of the summary, which usually occurs on the first Friday of each month.
  • The Unemployment Claims Monitor displays data from the weekly and monthly unemployment claims reports from the U.S. Department of Labor. It is updated every Thursday. Users will find weekly and monthly data on claims and on who have filed for unemployment insurance, including special unemployment programs like Short-Time Compensation (or Workshare), Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees, Ex-Service Members, and Extended Benefits programs.
  • Wage Growth Tracker measures the wage growth of individuals. It is constructed using microdata from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and is the median percent change in the hourly wage of individuals observed 12 months apart.   

• From Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: The Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) is an online database consisting of hundreds of thousands of economic data time series from scores of national, international, public, and private sources. FRED, created and maintained by the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, goes far beyond simply providing data. It combines data with a powerful mix of tools that help the user understand, interact with, display, and disseminate the data. Click here to access FRED.

• From the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE): Georgia Insights is an initiative of GaDOE focused on improving and increasing the role of data-informed decision making among education decision makers in the state. Georgia Insights is the go-to location for GaDOE’s dashboards, data files, and data resources. By providing data in a streamlined, usable, and useful manner, Georgia Insights equips educators, parents, and communities with the tools and information needed to enact positive change in Georgia’s schools. Click here to learn more.

• From the Georgia Department of Labor: The Georgia Department of Labor provides access to a complete set of data tools for workforce developers to better understand the labor market conditions in Georgia. The portal also includes resources for job seekers and employers. Click here to learn more.

• From Georgia Municipal Association (GMA): GMA’s Dashboard includes indicators for each city in Georgia along with city and statewide averages for comparisons. Users can choose economic, education, household, population, demographic, and labor data. Click here to learn more.

• From Georgia Power: Georgia Power’s Community & Economic Development team maintains interactive tools to take a deeper dive into the data on target industries, the labor force, and more. This includes Georgia’s Top Industries. Click here to learn more.

• From the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement (GOSA): GOSA supports accountability and transparency through strategic data use and collaboration with education stakeholders to advance student success. Click here to learn more.=

• From the National Fund for Workforce Solutions: The National Fund for Workforce Solutions’ Workforce Equity Dashboard provides disaggregated data that uncovers racial gaps in workforce outcomes, identifies opportunities to advance racial equity across systems, and informs high-impact strategies to build a future where employers, workers, and communities prosper. This dashboard was developed in partnership with the National Equity Atlas. Click here to learn more.

• From Neighborhood Nexus: Neighborhood Nexus, a data partner of ARC, developed Data Nexus, a powerful tool to find, visualize, analyze, and download community data including demographic, education, health, and economic indicators from state and national sources, all in one place. Click here to learn more.

• From Prosperity Now: The Prosperity Now Scorecard is a comprehensive resource for data on household financial health, racial economic inequality, and policy recommendations to help put everyone in our country on a path to prosperity.  Click here to access.

• From the Technical College System of Georgia: TCSG’s Data and Research provides access to the System Scorecard, enrollment data, and more. Click here to learn more.

• From the University of Georgia, Carl Vinson Institute of Government (CVIOG): CVIOG has developed toolkits and other resources on a variety of workforce topics. Click here to learn more.

• From the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Right now, there are too many jobs without people to fill them. As a result, businesses can’t grow, compete, or thrive. The America Works Data Center captures trends on job openings, labor force participation, quit rates, and more. Click here to learn more.

• From WorkSource Georgia: Through its portal, WorkSource Georgia provides access to labor market facts, area profiles, industry profiles, educational profiles, and occupational profiles. Click here to learn more.