Technology, globalization, and demographic changes have altered what employers need from workers and what workers can expect from employers. Many Americans no longer follow a straightforward, linear path from education to the workforce to retirement—rather, it is becoming more common for individuals to work while going to school, return to school to get more education or change careers after spending some time in the workforce, or work multiple freelance jobs. RAND Education and Labor researchers are working with education and training institutions, employers, and policymakers to take a systems-levels approach to examining education, workforce development, and employment, and to develop evidence-based policy recommendations to better support workers and employers in the 21st-century and beyond.
RAND Education and Labor researchers are examining how best to provide students with a broad base of fundamental skills, as well as exposure to career and technical education that will prepare them for the world of work. In addition, we are considering alternative funding models that can more equitably distribute costs of continuing education and training among individuals, employers, and taxpayers.
Recent graduates often find it difficult to make the transition from school to the workforce, as employers often want to hire workers with previous experience. RAND Education and Labor researchers are working in partnership with employers, education and training providers, and other stakeholders to better-align education and training curricula with labor market needs, and to facilitate the school-to-workforce transition. At the same time, many experienced workers find that their current skills are no longer in need, but there are no clearly defined pathways for them to quickly adapt and acquire new skills. Our work has examined new mechanisms to support greater job and career mobility, as well as the needs of freelancers in the growing “gig” economy.
According to the American Working Conditions Survey, more older workers report having meaningful work compared with their prime-age counterparts, and nearly half of retirees would return to work under the right conditions.
Lower-skilled workers face a shrinking pool of employment opportunities. To combat this, the city of New Orleans developed a job training program that helped these individuals train for and find skilled jobs in particular industries. The authors of this report examine that program's implementation and effectiveness and perform a cost-benefit analysis. Findings include improved wage growth and a positive return on investment.
The authors of this brief examine the implementation and effectiveness of a New Orleans job training program that helped lower-skilled, unemployed, and underemployed individuals train for and find skilled jobs in particular industries.
Explores an agent-based computational simulation model of individual income tax evasion tools to understand how taxpayers change their compliance behavior and what government policies could help mitigate the problem of tax evasion.
Although nearly two decades have elapsed since the turn of the 21st century, the U.S. approach to education, training, and workforce development still largely operates on a 20th-century model. To address this, RAND Corporation researchers developed a systems-level, blue-sky approach to conceptualizing and visualizing features and functions of a 21st-century U.S. workforce development and employment system.
U.S. education, training, and workforce development have not significantly changed despite 21st-century needs. This research brief details a systems-level, blue-sky approach to rethinking the current workforce development and employment system.
Presents results based on a recent survey that queried older workers about their current, desired, and expected job characteristics, as well as about how certain job characteristics would affect their retirement decisions.
The growth in energy production in the tristate Appalachia region has spurred a demand for hiring workers who are proficient in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. RAND Corporation researchers assessed the Appalachia Partnership Initiative's (API's) October 2014 to December 2017 investments in K–12 STEM education activities and initiatives related to catalyzing the community.
