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Essay
The Digital Skills Gap: What Workers Need for the Jobs of the Future
Business leaders have warned for years that what they see on job applications does not match what they need in new employees. There are not enough workers with the right digital skills. And as the world economy struggles to its feet after COVID-19, that skills gap threatens to keep pushing it down.
Mar 1, 2022
Report
School Staffing Challenges in the Pandemic's Third Year
As of fall 2021, school staff shortages were most acute for substitutes, bus drivers, special education teachers, and paraprofessionals. The turnover of superintendents was normal but half of them said that they might leave in the next few years or were unsure of how long they would stay.
Feb 15, 2022

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Journal Article
Improving Working Conditions Using Artificial Intelligence
This analysis discusses evidence on the expected impact of AI on jobs, the potential for AI to create decent jobs, and the extent to which AI offers opportunities and poses risks to working conditions.
Jun 8, 2021
Blog
Vaccine Hesitancy, Working from Home, Arctic Diplomacy: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on vaccine hesitancy as a symptom of ‘Truth Decay,’ how to make remote work beneficial for all, U.S. Arctic diplomacy, and more.
May 21, 2021
Commentary
Inequality in Opportunity to Work from Home an Underlying Condition Likely Aggravated by the Pandemic
Building a safe, healthy workforce where success, productivity, and financial security are available to all segments of American society could provide resilience against inevitable future shockwaves. Since working from home is a key part of such resilience, policymakers could focus on supporting the advantages, remediating the downsides, and expanding access to this form of work.
May 14, 2021
Blog
Pandemic Education, Working Mothers, Predicting Cyber Threats: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the urban-rural divide in pandemic education, supporting working moms, what makes a good COVID-19 reopening plan, and more.
May 14, 2021
Commentary
Should Mothers Work? We've Been Asking the Wrong Question
As schools and day cares closed due to the pandemic, millions of women were driven from the labor market. What is it worth to the United States to have mothers in the workforce?
May 10, 2021
Multimedia
RAND Remote: Changing Unemployment and the Post-Pandemic Workforce
In this RAND Remote conversation, Kathryn Edwards discusses ways the pandemic is changing how we treat unemployment. She describes options for workforce recovery, including drawing women workers back into the labor force.
Apr 29, 2021
Research Brief
A New Approach to Measuring Income Inequality
A new method for measuring income inequality reveals that, from 1975 to 2018, the only group for which actual income gains exceeded U.S. GDP growth was the group near the 99th percentile of income distribution.
Apr 29, 2021
Blog
Summer Learning, America's Middle Class, Waking Up After the Pandemic: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on how to make summer learning count, U.S. deterrence in the ‘gray zone,’ why so many Americans are stuck outside the middle class, and more.
Apr 23, 2021
Report
Barriers to Entering the U.S. Middle Class
Achieving and keeping middle-class status has become more difficult. Jobs with good pay for those without a college degree are getting exported or eliminated. Earning educational credentials is costly. Existing jobs are increasing education requirements, providing fewer benefits, and may not lead to longer-term careers.
Apr 22, 2021
Commentary
The Impact of the Pandemic on Demographic Trends
Key demographic trends in fertility, mortality, and migration are responsible for shifts in the overall structure of any population. COVID-19 has affected each of these, with potentially important implications.
Apr 12, 2021
Commentary
What Factors Affecting Retention Matter Most to Teachers?
Maintaining an adequate supply of teachers is a challenge and an area of significant concern. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, a set of interventions developed to target the preferences and expectations of specific groups of teachers is likely to be most effective.
Apr 5, 2021
Journal Article
Is the Rise in Illicit Opioids Affecting Labor Supply and Disability Claiming Rates?
Researchers examined how increased use of illicit opioids such as heroin and fentanyl affected labor market participation and claims for disability insurance.
Mar 10, 2021
Dissertation
Exploring the Influences of External Factors on the Veteran Disability Compensation Program
Explores factors affecting the performance and scope of the veteran disability compensation program.
Feb 23, 2021
Dissertation
Technological Change and the Skill Premium: 21st Century Evidence
Documents recent changes in labor outcomes by education and offer insights into the role of digitalization and its effects on labor market disparities.
Feb 9, 2021
Commentary
The Pandemic Is Completely Changing the Way We Treat Unemployment
Unemployment insurance is the most important fiscal response the United States has during a recession, because it sends timely, targeted, and temporary financial assistance to those directly affected by the downturn. What the CARES Act created—remarkably high benefits for more workers—was a short-term experiment born of necessity, but it could have a lasting influence on public policy.
Feb 1, 2021
Testimony
Reimagining the Workforce Development and Employment System
Rather than staying in one field with one skill set for an entire career, today's workers may need to reskill as labor markets evolve. How could an integrated system better support students, workers, and employers?
Jan 26, 2021
Report
Compensation and Benefits for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Workers: A Comparison of the Federal Government and the Private Sector
The authors compare salary, benefits, and employment for federal and private-sector workers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). They analyze data, present findings on STEM and non-STEM workers, and make recommendations.
Jan 19, 2021
Report
How Telecommuting Is Changing During the Pandemic
The ability to telecommute at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic saved many workers' jobs. Some of them are now returning to their workplaces, but most who can telecommute continue to do so. Telecommuting is also spreading to such occupations as health care and sales. Are these changes likely to persist after the pandemic?
Dec 3, 2020
Commentary
Women Are Leaving the Labor Force in Record Numbers
The economic downturn during the pandemic is affecting women workers measurably harder than men. There were 2.2 million fewer women in the labor force in October 2020 than there were last October. Investing in childcare and expanding labor laws could keep women employed and buoy the entire economy.
Nov 24, 2020
Blog
'Vaccine Nationalism,' a Pandemic Election, Women in the Workforce: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on why 'vaccine nationalism' could be costly, how Americans feel about voting during a pandemic, why women are leaving the workforce, and more.
Oct 30, 2020

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RAND Topic:
Labor Markets

Topic Synonyms:
Labour Market

Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Christine Eibner

Paul O'Neill Alcoa Chair in Policy Analysis

Christine Eibner is the Paul O'Neill Alcoa Chair in Policy Analysis; director, Payment, Cost, and Coverage Program; and a senior economist at the RAND Corporation.
Melanie A. Zaber

Economist

Melanie Zaber (she/her) is an economist at the RAND Corporation and codirector of the Middle-Class Pathways Center. She has diverse research interests spanning workforce development, postsecondary education, gender equity, and access to civil justice. Her research has examined household…

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