A variety of economic forces—most prominently, globalization and automation—have reduced the availability of middle-class jobs. This has contributed to a stagnation in real wages and a decline in upward mobility for millions of workers, particularly those without a college degree. Led by Brookings Senior Fellow Eduardo Levy Yeyati—and founded by former Brookings Senior Fellow Marcela Escobari in 2018—the Workforce of the Future initiative produces research and online tools to diagnose and counter these trends. At the core of the initiative is a body of research that uncovers local economic growth strategies to create high-wage jobs in fast-growing sectors of the economy. The research—most recently described in the initiative’s 2021 report, Moving Up—puts a spotlight on who is falling behind, where, and by how much. It also identifies career pathways that should be expanded to improve economic opportunity for those being left behind. This research informs the initiative’s Smart Growth Cities tool, an online tool that helps local economic development officials choose a successful growth strategy and provides a detailed analysis of the workforce implications of that strategy.
Our work
Dany Bahar, Ian Seyal, Greg Wright
June 14, 2024
June 14, 2024
Greg Wright, Alexandria Cordero, Ian Seyal
October 24, 2023
Greg Wright, Emma Berman
September 29, 2023
Greg Wright, Dany Bahar, Ian Seyal
June 17, 2022
Dany Bahar, Greg Wright
March 27, 2023
Greg Wright, Alexandria Cordero, Ian Seyal, Carlos Daboin Contreras
October 26, 2022
Marcela Escobari
October 27, 2021
Marcela Escobari, Ian Seyal, Carlos Daboin Contreras
June 14, 2021
Marcela Escobari, Eric Krebs
June 14, 2021
Marcela Escobari
March 18, 2021
Marcela Escobari, Dhruv Gandhi, Sebastian Strauss
March 17, 2021
Marcela Escobari, Ian Seyal, Carlos Daboin Contreras
November 16, 2020
Marcela Escobari, Natalie Geismar
November 10, 2020
Marcela Escobari, Natalie Geismar, Dhruv Gandhi
July 28, 2020
Marcela Escobari
June 5, 2020
Martina Hund-Mejean, Marcela Escobari
April 28, 2020
Eduardo Levy Yeyati, Martín Montané, Luca Sartorio
April 20, 2020
Marcela Escobari, Ian Seyal
February 25, 2020
Marcela Escobari, Ian Seyal
February 25, 2020
Marcela Escobari
December 19, 2019
Marcela Escobari, Ian Seyal, Michael J. Meaney
November 7, 2019
Marcela Escobari, Ian Seyal, José Morales-Arilla, Chad Shearer
May 21, 2019
November 3, 2019
Marcela Escobari, Sandy Fernandez
July 19, 2018