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Small businesses of color are important contributors to the national economy. The Atlanta and Kansas City Feds recently published the Small Businesses of Color Recovery Guide to help support these firms’ economic recovery. This Partners Update article provides an overview of this comprehensive guide.
Income gaps along racial lines are the result of long-standing structurally discriminatory policies across U.S. institutions. Although laws have changed, the legacy of these policies still affects people today. Partners Update examines how benefits cliffs differentially affect minority populations.
Low-income individuals and communities are feeling the brunt of job losses due to the pandemic. At the same time, organizations providing support services to that population are facing their own challenges. Partners Update explores southeastern organizations’ sentiments from a national survey.
For many working families with young children, childcare is essential to maintain employment. Childcare prepares children for kindergarten and future learning and success. Partners Update examines childcare during the economic downturn, including its costs.
How do counselors explain benefits cliffs to clients who want to advance in their careers? The authors conducted focus groups with employment service providers to address this question.
Partners Update summarizes a recent discussion paper on benefits cliffs, which occur when a person’s gains in earnings are offset by the loss of public benefits. The paper offers potential policy interventions that may help mitigate benefits cliffs and promote career advancement.
What are the financial trade-offs a single parent faces when moving up the career ladder? The authors develop a new methodology to study the impact of benefits cliffs on the financial incentives to advance in a career.
When the economic development and workforce development systems are aligned, job seekers receive training and skill development that employers demand, and employers have access to a skilled workforce. Partners Update summarizes a report on the benefits of aligning the two systems.
The rapid pace of technological change requires workers to have robust digital skills in the workplace. Partners Update summarizes a recent report on strategies to invest in worker training.
The Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity has updated its Opportunity Occupations Monitor data tool, which tracks trends in opportunity employment across the country. Partners Update discusses the tool's new features.
The Federal Reserve Board has published a report that summarizes the stakeholder feedback it received from roundtable discussions on modernizing the Community Reinvestment Act. Read Partners Update for more details.
Partners Update previews a discussion paper that provides workforce development policymakers with a two-step method to incorporate evidence-based programs at scale.
The author examines a sample of recent randomized controlled trials of workforce development programs and discusses how this body of evidence could inform policymakers about what works at scale.
Community development and health professionals often work with the same residents in separate silos, but that is beginning to change. Partners Update previews a paper on emerging health-community development partnerships in the Southeast.
Health and community development professionals are learning to collaborate to address the social determinants of health. The author investigates promising partnerships in the Southeast in this first of a two-part series.
What opportunities and decent-paying jobs exist for workers who don't have a college degree? This article gives an overview of recent Fed research on the topic.
The event explored how health and community development professionals are learning to collaborate. Participants represented a variety of sectors, including health care, public health, community development, housing, government, and research. The Build Healthy Places Network, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and the Georgia Health Policy Center cohosted the event, which was held in Atlanta during the national American Public Health Association Conference.
Learn how business, government, nonprofits, and others have reframed workforce development as investments in opportunity and competitiveness and attracted new and leveraged existing funding.
Atlanta Fed business contacts have a mostly positive outlook on economic growth in the region. Economy Matters summarizes the part of the Beige Book reporting on economic conditions in the Southeast.
After an extended period of relative stagnation, wages have been showing signs of growth. This episode of the Economy Matters podcast discusses recent wage trends and how the Atlanta Fed views wage behavior.
The brochure examines the types and share of opportunity occupations—jobs for middle-skill workers that pay at or above the national median wage—in all Sixth District states. It also depicts returns to education across the Southeast.
In an era when education's importance in the employment sector has steadily increased, what role do well-paying jobs that don't require a college degree play? An episode of the Economy Matters podcast talks to some Atlanta Fed experts.
Does early child development plus education equal a stronger economy? The Federal Reserve System's 10th Biennial Community Development Research Conference spotlighted high-quality, emerging research on this and other questions, with featured speakers including Fed Chair Janet Yellen and Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem Children's Zone.
This eBook examines various approaches to establishing technical and career-based training and the importance of building out the skills needed for the workforce in today's increasingly complex and rapidly changing global economy.
Fed Governor Brainard visited Atlanta neighborhoods with community and economic development and supervision and regulation team members. They met with community members and organizations to discuss local efforts, reports Partners Update.
The Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta and Philadelphia investigate the factors that contribute to employer requirements of a bachelor's degree for four key opportunity occupations.
New Philadelphia and Atlanta Fed research explores why employer preferences for bachelor's degrees for the most prevalent opportunity occupations differ significantly between metro areas. Partners Update summarizes the findings.
An evolving economy demands workers with evolving skill sets, and training employees to meet new employment demands is an ongoing challenge. The episode discusses trends in workforce development in the Southeast as well as nationally.
Apprenticeships have the potential to improve economic opportunity for workers who lack a traditional college education. Partners Update assesses the state of apprenticeships in the Southeast and nationally.
This eBook explores the role of community and economic development organizations in workforce development and the importance of fostering and facilitating partnerships to address local workforce challenges.
The percent of the population that gained a bachelor's degree or higher rose by 7.9 percentage points from 1990 to 2010. However, only 78 of 283 metro areas were above that 7.9 percentage point increase. The author examines four labor market outcomes in those 78 "leader metros."
The report identifies good-paying jobs in the 100 largest U.S. metro areas for workers who have less than a four-year college degree. The Federal Reserve Banks of Atlanta, Cleveland, and Philadelphia collaborated on the findings. Full report (8 MB) | Infographic (392 KB)
Leaders from the business, government, nonprofit, and academic sectors explored some of the efforts currently under way to develop a stronger workforce. Noted Harvard University Professor Ronald Ferguson also shared a framework for providing multiple school-to-career pathways, including college and noncollege options.
New research points to soft skills as an important indicator for success in the workplace. Jonathan Finkelstein, founder and CEO of Credly, and Laura Lippman, senior fellow at Child Trends, discuss digital badging as a way to document these currently amorphous workplace skills in this Economic Development podcast episode.
The book explores how new policies and practice can meet the changing needs of workers, businesses, and their communities. The Atlanta and Kansas City Feds and Rutgers' Heldrich Center for Workforce Development collaborated on the book, which has contributions from over 65 leading scholars and practitioners engaged in workforce development.
The Southeast has historically lagged behind the rest of the nation in terms of education attainment. This Partners Update article looks closely at census and other data to try to uncover some positive trends that may exist despite the lag.
The authors investigate educational attainment trends in legacy cities, older industrial areas that once relied on manufacturing and production but lost jobs and population, in this third article in a series in Partners Update.
In this second Partners Update article in a series, the authors examine educational attainment trends across the country's 50 largest metropolitan areas and how the trends may have different implications for cities and suburbs.
In listening sessions with the Atlanta Fed, workforce training providers noted the lack of soft skills in some workers. Those skills can be roughly divided into essential and workplace skills, and this Partners Update article discusses each set of skills.
High school graduation rates can have a broad effect on an area's economic vitality. How can communities implement programs to help students graduate while also providing work skills? Mike Beatty, of Great Promise Partnership, and Mike Wiggins, formerly of Southwire Company, discuss an exemplary model in an Economic Development podcast episode.
How can sector-based workforce development strategies address the needs of both employers and job seekers? Maureen Conway of the Aspen Institute and Fred Dedrick of the National Fund for Workforce Solutions discuss a recent book on the topic in an Economic Development podcast episode.
One outcome of the recent recession is that rural poverty rates are the highest since the mid-1980s. Mil Duncan, founding director of the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute, discusses the issues facing the rural poor in an Economic Development podcast episode.
Much of the wage growth in the United States over the last several decades has gone to the most productive (and highly educated) workers. A new Partners Update article looks at the implications for community and economic developers.
State workforce development agencies are crucial in deploying federal funding related to job training and placement. Rich Hobbie of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies and Burt Barnow of George Washington University explore how these agencies are evolving as funding streams change.
Can business models be designed to support low-income populations by providing jobs, necessary training, and other support services? In an Economic Development podcast, Carla Javits and Jason Trimiew at the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund discuss their proposal for viable businesses that also include a workforce development component.
How can the workforce development system better respond to people with disabilities? Kathy Krepcio, of Rutgers' Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, and Michael Morris, of National Disability Institute, discuss innovative programs and policies designed to ensure this sector is poised to meet employers' labor needs.
There is value for both the employee and employer in enhancing the skill sets of lower-wage workers. Mark Popovich of the Hitachi Foundation and Jenny Benz of the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research discuss findings of a recent study on this topic and implications for policy and practice.
How can employers be effective partners in improving the local workforce ecosystem? Peter Cappelli, professor and director of the Wharton School's Center for Human Resources, discusses how firms can provide on-the-job training for skills needed within their organizations.
The conference discussed job market issues affecting low- and moderate-income communities. Speakers addressed the need to retool educational systems and redesign curricula to match graduates to the job market. They also explored the multiple challenges of an aging workforce, stagnant wages, and concern for the long-term unemployed. The Atlanta and Kansas City Feds cohosted the event.
Maureen Conway of the Aspen Institute discusses the results of the Institute's Courses to Employment project, which analyzed how community colleges and nonprofits worked together to help low-income adults succeed in the classroom and labor market.
Stephan Goetz, director of the Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, discusses his recent research on the growing impact of self-employment as an economic development strategy. He also describes the types of local programs and policies that can support this sector.
The conference discussed job market issues affecting low- and moderate-income communities. Speakers addressed the need to retool educational systems and redesign curricula to match graduates to the job market. They also explored the multiple challenges of an aging workforce, stagnant wages, and concern for the long-term unemployed. The Atlanta and Kansas City Feds cohosted the event.
A critical shortage in medical professionals, especially in rural and low-income areas, is a challenge facing medical colleges. Dr. Wayne J. Riley, president and CEO of Meharry Medical College, discusses the future of medical training and its implications for economic development.
Technical and vocational schools are well positioned to provide practical training that meets the needs of local employers. James King, vice chancellor for the Tennessee Technology Centers, discusses how these schools can partner with employers and position their graduates to thrive in today's emerging job sectors.
Community, technical, and vocational colleges play an important role in preparing the workforce for the immediate labor demands of local employers and promoting full employment in their service regions. However, current economic conditions have challenged traditional models, prompting revised and sometimes new approaches. Dr. Rolando Montoya, provost at Miami Dade College, the nation's largest nonprofit institution of higher learning, discusses how a community college can nimbly adjust its curriculum to respond to the fast-changing workforce needs of local businesses and strengthen local economic development.