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Workforce Development

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Research Brief

The U.S. Workforce Development and Employment System Needs an Overhaul

Sep 19, 2019

Despite globalization, technology, and demographic changes, the U.S. approach to education, training, and workforce development still operates on a 20th-century model. Americans need a system that provides on-ramps for transitioning individuals to access opportunities while suitably matching workers and jobs.
Essay

Education and Employment Should Be One System, Not Two

Jan 7, 2020

Too many American workers aren't getting the education and training they need to compete in the 21st century. We need to revamp the entire system of educating and employing people. And that system needs to ensure equitable access to opportunities and lifelong learning.

Explore Workforce Development

Report

Employee Conversions to the Cyber Excepted Service: Assessing Factors and Characteristics Related to Personnel Conversion Decisions

In this report, researchers analyze the characteristics of both employees that choose to convert and employees that choose not to convert to the Cyber Excepted Service.

Aug 2, 2021
Commentary

Job Training Is More Effective When Educators, Government, and Industry Work Together

The United States is facing economic gaps wider than have been seen in a century. To keep the nation economically strong and able to provide middle-class lifestyles to its citizens, educators, government, and private industry need to work together to shape training opportunities.

Jul 6, 2021
Commentary

How the Military Might Expand Its Cyber Skills

The U.S. military will need to improve its software fluency if it wants to be dominant on the battlefields of the future. Ensuring that future leaders in the military develop cyber skills and the ability to interface with technical experts may be increasingly important.

Apr 22, 2021
Content

RAND Lowy Family Middle-Class Pathways Center

The RAND Lowy Family Middle-Class Pathways Center (MCPC) is committed to forging new and better paths toward sustainable work opportunities for all Americans. RAND researchers are designing, piloting, and evaluating interventions focused on skill pathways, entrepreneurship, and workplace technology.

Feb 25, 2021
Journal Article

A Snapshot of Educator Mobility in Montana: Understanding Issues of Educator Shortages and Turnover

Montana is struggling to recruit and retain qualified educators, especially in certain subject areas and in rural parts of the state. This study provides information that will help the task force address these challenges.

Feb 17, 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

The Composition and Employment of Software Personnel in the U.S. Department of Defense: An Initial Analysis

The authors identify and characterize a subset of the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD's) software workforce, the types of software developed within DoD, and the variety of methods DoD programs use when employing that workforce to develop software.

Dec 24, 2020
Report

Defense Security Cooperation University Expert Course of Instruction: Content, Design, Implementation

To develop an expert-level course of instruction for military and civilian security cooperation professionals, the authors of this report identify the needed knowledge and skills and the pedagogical methods that best cultivate them.

Dec 1, 2020
Journal Article

How to Take a Systems Approach to Effect Change in Policing: A Recent Presentation to the LA Police Commission Addressed How to Evolve the Police Academies of Today to Deliver the Officers of Tomorrow

This presentation advocates a systems approach to change, and significant changes to LAPD's recruit academy to enhance critical applied skills.

Nov 17, 2020
Journal Article

Estimating the Cost of Growing the NHS Cancer Workforce in England by 2029

This research aims to understand the requirements for the NHS, and particularly for HEE, of increasing the seven priority cancer workforces by 45 per cent by 2029.

Oct 14, 2020
Report

Supporting a 21st Century Workforce in Puerto Rico: Challenges and Options for Improving Puerto Rico's Workforce System Following Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017

A workforce development system that supports Puerto Rico's economic development requires a K through postsecondary education system that emphasizes individuals' career pathways and aligns training with the evolving labor market and business needs.

Sep 30, 2020
Report

Federal Civilian Workforce Hiring, Recruitment, and Related Compensation Practices for the Twenty-First Century: Review of Federal HR Demonstration Projects and Alternative Personnel Systems to Identify Best Practices and Lessons Learned

The federal government is working to enable simple and strategic hiring practices. Toward this end, the authors identified best practices for recruiting, hiring, and compensation in federal demonstration projects and alternative personnel systems.

Sep 28, 2020
Commentary

It May Be Time to Rethink the Design of Jobs to Deliver Good Health for Workers

Even before the COVID-19 crisis, the impact of poorly designed jobs on the health of workers was drawing attention. Now may be the time to fundamentally rethink the design of jobs so that they promote good health and lessen poor health and its costs.

Sep 25, 2020
Report

Maintaining a Demographically Diverse Air Force Civilian Workforce

The Air Force experiences challenges in maintaining a demographically diverse civilian workforce. How can changes to policies and practices help it grow and retain civilian talent from across all demographics?

Sep 3, 2020
Multimedia

From the Community Corrections Lens

In this Events @ RAND podcast based on the Career Prospects for People with Criminal Records Symposium held at RAND in 2019, Veronica Cunningham and Nicole Jarrett offer their perspectives on the next steps that policymakers, practitioners, and employers can take to equalize employment opportunities for individuals with criminal records. RAND's Dionne Barnes-Proby hosts.

Jul 29, 2020
Multimedia

Practitioners’ Views on Barriers and Opportunities

In this Events @ RAND podcast based on the Career Prospects for People with Criminal Records Symposium held at RAND in 2019, Joshua Miller, Toney L. Earl Jr., Tony Lewis Jr., and Andrew Morton discuss strategies for overcoming barriers and improving employment outcomes through reentry, community supervision, and employer-driven programs.

Jul 22, 2020
Multimedia

Certification, Background Checks, and Stigma

In this Events @ RAND podcast based on the Career Prospects for People with Criminal Records Symposium held at RAND in 2019, Peter Leasure, Michael Vuolo, and Naomi F. Sugie present evidence from employer and job-seeker studies on Ban-the-Box, Certificates of Relief, and background checks.

Jul 15, 2020
Multimedia

How Do People Stop Committing Crimes?

In this Events @ RAND podcast based on the Career Prospects for People with Criminal Records Symposium held at RAND in 2019, senior policy researcher Shawn D. Bushway explains the concept of desistance, or how and when people with criminal records stop offending.

Jul 8, 2020
Report

U.S. Coast Guard Workforce 2040: Better Management Through Transparency

This Perspective describes several ways in which the U.S. Coast Guard can effectively recruit and retain its future workforce by providing greater transparency in personnel management practices, inspired by a U.S. Coast Guard Evergreen V workshop.

May 18, 2020
Report

The Appalachia Partnership Initiative's Investments in Education, Workforce Development, and Catalyzing the Community: Reflections from 2014 Through 2019

RAND researchers trace the impact of the Appalachia Partnership Initiative investments on science, technology, engineering, and math education for grades K-12 and energy and advanced manufacturing workforce development from 2014 through 2019.

May 6, 2020

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Research conducted by

RAND Education and Labor