At our Further Together conference last month, we hosted our second research reception highlighting new, innovative or impactful research about education and workforce development. Twelve different workforce-oriented research projects were selected to participate in this year’s research reception, all organized around the conference’s primary themes:
- Advancing Worker-Centered Workforce Development Programming and Practices
- Investing in Inclusive [Workforce] Systems Change Strategies
- Emerging and Evolving Workforce Priorities: AI & Climate Resiliency
This blog is the first of two that will highlight the research that was shared at our conference. Take some time to review these research posters and if you’re so inspired, reach out to the researchers and presenters to learn more! Our field only advances when we conduct meaningful research that helps us understand practice gaps, identify promising practices and propose innovative solutions for workers and their communities.
Poster # 1 - The New Shapes of the Labor Market in an AI Enabled Economy
Stuart Andreason | Burning Glass Institute
The rapid adoption and proliferation of artificial intelligence across the labor market has had profound effects on opportunities for workers. Technological change is becoming expertise biased, rather than skill-biased. No longer are a set of tech enabled skills enough to get a job, expertise in these skills are necessary. Workers must “start in the middle. Building on the Burning Glass Institute’s recent No Country for Young Grads report, this research will explore the new shapes of the labor market. Some have described the new labor market as a diamond, yet it may in fact be two shapes – one made up of the varied lower wage roles that have limited mobility and exposure to AI and another smaller diverging set of professional and high mobility roles that are enabled by AI. This new expertise bias has significant implications for young workers – especially those from lower income backgrounds that may not have the time or money to be able to invest in building expertise in skills that will enable their long term mobility. Using quantitative analysis of career histories, job postings, and public labor force surveys, this research will examine the new shape of the labor market. It will present implications for programs and policies to help bridge the growing expertise bias in the labor market and identify strategies to pull in lower income workers and learners.
Poster # 2 - The Arc of Systems Change: How Patient Capital and Backbone Organizations Drive Transformative Workforce Development at Scale
Bishara Addison | Fund For Our Economic Future
Chris Spence | New Growth Group
This research examines the critical relationship between upstream investments, patient capital and backbone organizations and how they can drive transformative systems change in workforce development. Using the WorkAdvance Model evolution as a primary case study, the analysis presented will demonstrate how strategic upstream investments in evidence-building and capacity development, supported by patient capital, allows for extended development timelines, which create the essential foundation for achieving workforce systems transformation at scale. The central theme will explore how braided funding from public and private sources was core to a strategy to change how on-ramp training programs leading to industry specific occupations was essential. Those combined investments, enabled by policy (federal), positioned the lead implementing organization in NE Ohio to test new strategies for delivering services, collaboration, data collection, and partnership formation. Drawing from 15+ years of learning, this case study traces the arc from initial policy enabling upstream investments to state-wide adoption of a way to organize job training programs.
Poster # 3 - A Question of Repair
Daquanna Harrison | Elevation Education Consulting Group
Tuquan Harrison | The James Irvine Foundation
Kriztina Palone | The James Irvine Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation commissioned Elevation Educational Consulting Group (EECG) to explore how philanthropy can be a catalyst for transformative change in public workforce development systems. This poster provides insights from “A Question of Repair,” a groundbreaking mixed-methods study which was conducted in California's Bay Area region, that provided a critical lens on how to confront systemic inequities that impact both marginalized jobseekers and the frontline staff who support them. As equity and inclusion remain urgent priorities in an ever-evolving landscape, this research highlights why the work of repair remains unfinished—and why now is the time to act. Key insights emerged, showcasing the power of philanthropic investment to drive meaningful change through flexible funding, trauma-informed practices, and equitable support for workforce professionals.
Poster # 4 - Grief, Loss, Young People and the Workplace
Alicia Atkinson | Wealth and Work Futures Lab
Charlotte Tatum | Wealth and Work Futures Lab
Recent attention has been paid to the impact of grief on the workplace on employee performance, relationships and retention. It is important to put special emphasis on young adults who are simultaneously responding to death losses, early career challenges and the losses associated with their community, the changing marketplace, political landscape, and economy. In the Fall of 2024, Wealth and Work Futures Lab set out to engage young adults (ages 18–26) in Philadelphia to explore their perspectives on wealth, work, grief, and loss, with a deeper focus on grief paralysis, safety, and the scarcity of resources for youth. Our hope is to use findings to inform policy, practices, and cultural perspectives that influence how resources are allocated to support youth development—particularly at the intersection of work, healing and financial well-being.
Poster # 5 - Employers & Benefits Cliffs: Five Years of Field Learnings about Benefit Cliffs with Employers
Shoshana Marder | Leap Fund
Raises, promotions, and additional hours should lead to financial progress—not financial loss. But for millions of workers, even a modest income increase can trigger the benefits cliff, where losing public benefits outweighs a pay bump. Over the past five years, Leap Fund has worked directly with employers, HR teams, and workers to better understand how this issue impacts real people and real workplaces. Our report presents five years of insights and lessons from Leap Fund’s work with employers to tackle benefits cliffs. It compiles our key findings, field-tested strategies, and practical recommendations to help employers, nonprofits, solution-builders, and systems leaders take informed action.
Poster # 6 - Connecting Infrastructure Spending to Career Pathways in Los Angeles
Martha Ross | Brookings Metro
More than 80% of federal infrastructure awards to organizations in the Los Angeles region went to special-purpose government districts such as the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles International Airport, and the Los Angeles Department of Power and Water. LA Metro alone accounted for nearly half of all infrastructure funding to the region. These entities are durable economic anchors for the region. They provide critical services and reliably generate jobs -- even with cyclical ups and downs and varying levels of federal funding. They have ambitious capital improvement projects and significant operational and maintenance functions that drive employment. The LA region is home to multiple workforce initiatives and partnerships, but they are unlikely to meet the scale of the challenge. Nationally, an estimated 1.7 million infrastructure workers leave their job each year due to retirements and other employment shifts, leading to huge replacement needs. Meanwhile, infrastructure careers often lack visibility among young people and prospective workers. Meeting the labor market needs of the infrastructure sector in LA requires a more systematic sector-based approach. This research identifies critical infrastructure occupations and lays out options for employers and education/workforce actors to interact more productively to create broader, more robust pipelines to infrastructure careers.
