Abstract
[This is an excerpt.] Policymakers frequently approach the question of developing the workforce to meet the needs of the 21st century. Despite today’s historically low unemployment rates, wages for typical workers have barely budged for decades. While productivity has increased, gains have largely trickled to the richest Americans, exasperating persisting income inequality and painting an ominous picture of middle-class living standards. Furthermore, gaps in both wealth and income by race and gender have caused disproportionate labor market penalties for certain groups. Wage gaps and growing income inequality along racial lines have persisted despite higher educational attainment. For example, earning a bachelor’s degree or higher has not proven to reduce either the black-white or the Latinx wage gap. Meanwhile, employers are spending less on worker training than they used to. And too often, the training that they do provide is firm-specific, meaning that those skills do not translate well to other firms. [To read more, click View Resource.]
This resource is found in our Actionable Strategies for Government: Fair and Meaningful Reward & Recognition (Support Career Development).
