This week, we’re covering:
Workforce and Labor Trends, By the Numbers
$500 Million AI Jobs Push Launches with Bipartisan Backing
If Gen Z Wants to Succeed at Work, They Need to Start Friction-Maxxing
Partnerships, Investments, and Company Innovation
What We’re Reading (And Listening To)
Workforce and Labor Trends, By the Numbers
93% of leaders say they actively encourage their teams to use AI, but most report only using AI for surface-level tasks like searching for information (69%), summarizing content (68%), drafting emails (58%), according to a new report from General Assembly. [Fast Company, subscription model]
64% of employers expect hiring to remain the same for the rest of 2026, while 16% expect increased hiring and 11% expect decreased hiring. [HR Brew]
Entry-level roles in highly AI-exposed occupations are now 7x more likely to require skills that have historically appeared later in a worker’s career, including strategic decision-making, stakeholder management, and leadership. [Fortune, subscription model]
$500 Million AI Jobs Push Launches with Bipartisan Backing
A new bipartisan workforce initiative called RAISE US has launched with more than $500 million in backing from organizations including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Microsoft to help workers prepare for AI-driven changes in the labor market. Led by former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, the effort will pilot workforce strategies—including retraining, AI-powered career coaching, and short-term credentials—in Arkansas, Connecticut, Maryland, and Utah before expanding nationally. [POLITICO, subscription model]
If Gen Zers Want to Succeed at Work, They Need to Start Friction-Maxxing
Gen Z's career success will increasingly depend on seeking out the everyday interpersonal challenges that technology has made easy to avoid—a practice dubbed "friction-maxxing." As AI automates many technical entry-level tasks, Unify America President Michelle Sobel argues that durable skills such as conflict resolution, active listening, collaboration, and navigating disagreement will become key differentiators for early career professionals. [Fortune, subscription model]
Partnerships, Investments, and Company Innovation
Google pledged $50 million to expand skilled trades training. The funding will support 14 labor unions and four trade and contractor associations, with the goal of reaching 300,000 workers across 20 states. Partners include TradesFutures, which will scale apprenticeship readiness and registered apprenticeship placement; the electrical training ALLIANCE, which will pilot a mobile training center for infrastructure hubs; and the United Association’s training fund with the Mechanical Contractors Association of America, which will build a five-year roadmap for scaling the plumbing and HVACR sectors. [Construction Dive]
Indiana is building a new youth apprenticeship system, the Indiana Career Apprenticeship Pathway (INCAP). Based on the Swiss apprenticeship model, the program has secured more than $25 million from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and support from Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, and aims to serve 50,000 apprentices by 2034. About 75 apprentices are expected to start this fall across advanced manufacturing and logistics, banking and financial services, healthcare, and IT. The new system arrives alongside a revamped state high school diploma built around work-based learning. [Work Shift]
What We’re Reading (And Listening To)
U.S. Department of Education Issues Final Rule to Hold All Colleges and Universities Accountable for Low-Earning Programs [U.S. Department of Education]
The emerging transcript built for skills, not courses [University Business]
America’s workforce law is stuck in 2014 [Washington Examiner]
Buying AI training doesn’t buy your employees AI skills [HR Executive]
🎧Workforce Pell watch: Valuable funding for every college’s mission [University Business]
The Apprenticeship Wish List [Inside Higher Ed, subscription model]
Educators Offer Advice on AI’s Role in Workforce Development [Education Week, subscription model]
This edition of “New Skills, Talent and Development” was drafted by Annie Han, Ben Clatterbuck, and Ashley Utnage and edited by Julia Pasette-Seamon and Erica Price Burns.