Last Friday, the negotiated rulemaking committee convened by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to craft rules governing Workforce Pell reached consensus, opening the door to a significant expansion of allowable uses for federal student aid.

ED will now move forward with implementing the program in order to meet its July 1, 2026 deadline. While ED plans to have a process in place for determining what programs are eligible for Workforce Pell by July 1, the Department acknowledged that it will likely take time for states to approve eligible programs. ED is hopeful that programs will be “up and running and moving in 2026-27.”

This week, we’re also covering:

The national unemployment rate reached a four-year high of 4.6% (up from 4.4% in September) after the shutdown prevented the collection of data from households in October. Data released Wednesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that while the unemployment rate increased, 64,000 jobs were added in November, following a loss of over 100,000 jobs in October.

According to McKinsey and LeanIn.org’s 2025 Women in the Workplace study, only half of companies are prioritizing women’s career advancement, part of a several-year trend in declining commitment to gender diversity. While women and men have similar levels of career motivation, structural barriers to their advancement still persist, including fewer sponsorship and advancement opportunities. At the same time, companies are also scaling back on other programs often beneficial to women, such as remote work, diversity and inclusion programs, and bias training, leading HR leaders to worry about the long-term opportunity gap for women.

Jobs for the Future (JFF)’s Center for Justice & Economic Advancement is accepting applications for its 2026 Fair Chance to Advance Fellows program, a professional development opportunity for early and mid-career professionals with records of arrest, conviction, or incarceration in the U.S. The program was originally launched in 2025, and is designed to support leaders who are working to drive change in the U.S. workforce and justice systems. The fellows, selected for their expertise and potential impact, will receive stipends to support their participation. They will advise JFF and partners on designing fair chance policies in education, workforce, and reentry systems; engage in strategy discussions with the Center for Justice & Economic Advancement; and will explore opportunities to share their expertise nationally through the Fair Chance to Advance initiative.

As AI reshapes the workforce, employers must prioritize skills over formal academic credentials to stay competitive and agile in hiring and talent development, argues Kelly Graham, director of thought leadership and content at Grads of Life. She explains that skills-first strategies help organizations build strategic early-talent pipelines and adapt more quickly to evolving business needs in an AI-driven economy. Integrating AI responsibly into skills-focused hiring and workforce planning—like Walmart, Salesforce, and financial services firms have—allows companies to more quickly identify top candidates, match internal talent to opportunities, and identify emerging gaps earlier on.

Thank you for reading “What We’re Reading: New Skills, Talent and Development,” and happy holidays! We will return to your inbox on January 8, 2026.

This edition of “New Skills, Talent and Development” was drafted by Zoe Almeida and Annie Han and edited by Julia Pasette-Seamon and Erica Price Burns.