America’s labor market has entered a “new normal” phrase. Although the unemployment rate has declined after the Great Recession, underemployment remains a major problem and the percentage of workers stuck in part-time jobs is well above historical norms. Yet, at the same time, employers are posting a record number of positions. Professor Joseph Fuller suggests that resolving this paradox will require education institutions and employers to adopt a new approach to skills training.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation recommends a new demand-driven approach—talent pipeline management—to close the skills gap. Extending lessons learned from innovations in supply chain management, this paper calls for employers to play a new and expanded leadership role as “end-customers” of education and workforce partnerships.
The market for middle-skills jobs—those that require more education and training than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree—is consistently failing to clear. That failure is inflicting a grievous cost on the competitiveness of American firms and on the standard of living of American workers. How can business lead the charge to close the gap?
This report presents the findings of HBS' 2013–14 survey on U.S. competitiveness. It highlights a troubling divergence in the U.S. economy: large and midsize firms are prospering, but middle- and working-class citizens and small businesses are struggling.
This paper develops a novel clustering algorithm that systematically generates and assesses sets of cluster definitions (i.e., groups of closely related industries).
This report focuses on the current state of U.S. PK-12 education. It highlights the converging trends that make this a special, promising moment in education reform.
This booklet provides a practical approach for business leaders seeking to understand the complex issues involved in transforming PK-12 education.
This report presents the findings of the first-ever national survey of school superintendents on U.S. competitiveness and the role of business in improving education outcomes in the U.S., including specific actions that business leaders can take to support transformative change.
This case explores the motivation behind P-TECH (a growing skills gap), how it was developed along with the challenges, and the attention generated by the unique school design.
This case explores the challenges and complications of replicating P-TECH.
This paper evaluates the role of regional cluster composition in the economic performance of industries, clusters and regions.
Industries located in regions with strong clusters (i.e. a large presence of other related industries) experience higher growth in new business formation and start-up employment.
The performance of regional economies varies markedly in terms of wage, wage growth, employment growth, and patenting rate.
The real work of raising productivity and innovative capacity usually occurs not in our nation's capital, but in the cities and regions where firms are based and competition actually takes place.
In the modern competitive marketplace, nations have their own competitive advantages. These are investigated and discussed in-depth.