This week, we’re covering:
Workforce and Labor Trends, By the Numbers.
How Competency-Based Education Can Help Serve Nontraditional Students
Should AI Make Students More Comfortable or Less?
Partnerships, Investments, and Company Innovation
What We’re Reading (And Listening To)
Workforce and Labor Trends, By the Numbers
Nonfarm payrolls rose 162,000 in August. Bars and restaurants led with 59,000 new jobs, while government education rose by 42,000. Women accounted for 158,000 of the total—representing about 98% of the gain. The gains in women's employment is notable given that they represented nearly all of the job losses in July. [CNBC]
87% HR professionals said they were not highly prepared for their most recent significant organizational change, according to people development company Insights. [HR Dive]
A new survey by BambooHR found that 42% of the time workers spend using AI is on revising low-quality outputs, now known as “workslop.” [HR Dive]
How Competency-Based Education Can Help Serve Nontraditional Students
Colleges nationwide are turning to competency-based education (CBE) as a way to build faster, more flexible employee pipelines into high-demand fields, with state lawmakers increasingly calling on institutions to supply key industries like health care and manufacturing with skilled talent. The University of Kansas' new CBE program, Jayhawk Flex, is seen as a potential turning point for traditional, non-workforce-focused universities. C-BEN Senior Director of Higher Education Ryan Specht-Boardman argues that if the program succeeds, it “will make it really hard for every other traditional institution in this country to say, ‘It can’t be done here.’” [Chronicle of Higher Education, subscription model]
Should AI Make Students More Comfortable or Less?
AI-powered networking tools can help students build the confidence to reach out to others, according to a new Clayton Christensen Institute report. The report looked at 10 platforms, including FutureFit AI, Roadtrip Nation, REACH Pathways, and Climb Together, testing evidence-based "prosocial" designs—designs that put tech in service of human connection. 92% of REACH Pathways users reported increased confidence reaching out to someone in their network for support or advice, while Roadtrip Nation users saw measurable upticks in confidence leading and booking career conversations. [Work Shift]
Partnerships, Investments, and Company Innovation
The Trump administration announced the launch of Foundry School, a training program for industrial leaders working to rebuild U.S. manufacturing. Eight universities, led by Stanford, will deliver curriculum across sessions taught by founders and CEOs from manufacturing companies in the U.S. and partner economies including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and India. The program is a flagship of the administration’s Pax Silica initiative for global AI and supply chain security, and responds to an estimated need for 3.8 million skilled manufacturing workers by 2033.
The Lowe’s Foundation announced the Building Futures Skilled Trades Coalition, backed by more than 75 partners including NVIDIA, AT&T, Bank of America, Carrier, General Motors, DEWALT, and Duke Energy, with the goal of training 1 million people for skilled trades careers by 2035. The coalition draws on the foundation's Gable Grants program, an existing network of community colleges and nonprofits, and aims to change perceptions of trades careers, scale proven training models and track outcomes from training through employment.
What We’re Reading (And Listening To)
Americans Without College Degrees Are Having One of the Best Job Markets in Years [The Wall Street Journal, subscription model]
The LMS Is No Longer the Center of Learning. Here’s What Replaced It [Training Industry]
Designing for Disruption: Reimagining Our Education and Workforce Systems [Bipartisan Policy Center]
Data Center Workforce Shortage Pushes Employers Into Trades Education [Forbes, subscription model]
AI Use in the Job Market Is Creating an Infinite Doom Loop [WIRED, subscription model]
AI Is Changing the Rules of Entrepreneurship [Harvard Business Review, subscription model]
Metro areas face shortages in middle-skills workforce [Community College Daily]
This edition of “New Skills, Talent and Development” was drafted by Annie Han and Ben Clatterbuck, and edited by Julia Pasette-Seamon and Erica Price Burns.