FOCUS AREAS: WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Policy Relevant Articles

• • Viewpoint: Expanding workforce access in the biotech industry. Boston Business Journal​.
    • This article details how creating a bio manufacturing hub in New England would not only grow the industry itself but expand job opportunities and further the overall economy of the region. The author highlights the BioConnects New England coalition as a trailblazer for supporting biotech infrastructure. 
  • Pathways to Economic Mobility: Identifying the Labor Market Value of Community College in Massachusetts. The Boston Foundation​.
    • This report provides a thorough contribution to the debate surrounding community college’s role in battling structural inequality by providing an easily accessible pathway to economic mobility. 
  • Untapped: Redefining Hiring in the New Economy. Office of Workforce Development, City of Boston​.
    • This report analyzes the disconnect between the skills that employers desire and the skills that both BA and non-BA workers have to offer. It provides several recommendations for closing this gap and taking full advantage of the current available workforce. 
  • Childcare is a Business Issue. Harvard Business Review.​
    • This article explains how childcare and access to it is something that all employers should see as a business issue, as opposed to a family issue. By offering high-quality childcare to employees, businesses not only develop positive relationships with their staff, but also lessen the chance of losing staff to more competitive offers. 
  • When the Economy Is Good, Employers Demand Fewer Credentials. Harvard Business Review.​
    • The research done in this article suggests that during recessions, employers increase skill requirements because of an influx of highly-skilled laborers on the job market. The failure to decrease these requirements as the economy begins to recover leads to higher unemployment rates, such as the ones seen after the Great Recession. 
  • The Importance of Middle-Skill Jobs. Issues in Science and Technology, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
    • This article emphasizes the importance of jobs for middle-skill workers, who are defined as those with post-secondary education, but no four-year college degree. It argues that middle-skill jobs must not upskill, so as not to disengage the middle-skill workforce population.
• How private sector summer employment programs are expanding benefits for young people. Brookings Institution​.
  • Summer youth employment is more than just keeping kids busy for the sake of reducing crime, this article highlights the positive academic, social, and professional effects of private sector summer employment programs, while providing guidance on how and why cities should adopt SYEPs.
• Employers need to support summer jobs. Boston Business Journal​.
  • This article provides statistical analysis of Boston’s SYEP and its successes, using the data to encourage private sector employers to participate in them. To further encourage these employers’ participation, the article addresses and assuages common concerns about SYEP participation.
• An Evaluation of the Boston Youth Credit Building Initiative: Final Report. Office of Financial Empowerment, City of Boston​.
  • This release by Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Public Policy describes the Boston Youth Credit-Building Initiative funded by the same center, its successes, and positive outcomes for youth. Spurred by a concern about a lack of savings among the general public, the program aimed to educate youth about and help them to create positive credit. Immediately following the program, participants were 10% more likely to have access to credit-building tools/techniques than their peers and 26% more likely in the following year and a half.