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About Us

The Project on Workforce is an interdisciplinary, collaborative project between the Harvard Kennedy School's Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, the Harvard Business School Managing the Future of Work Project, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

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What We Do

​The Project produces and catalyzes basic and applied research at the intersection of education and labor markets for leaders in business, education, and policy. The Project’s research aims to help shape a postsecondary system of the future that creates more and better pathways to economic mobility and forges smoother transitions between education and careers.

OUR PRIORITIES

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How do we measure foundational skills?

RESEARCH QUESTION
RESEARCH QUESTION
OUR APPROACH

Real experiments in work and learning environments

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The share of all U.S. jobs requiring decision-making rose from 6% in 1960 to 34% in 2018

WHY IT MATTERS

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~2/3 of U.S. workers do not hold a 4-year college degree

WHY IT MATTERS

OUR APPROACH

Create the first open-source system-level infrastructure of data and evidence on the Workforce Development Sector in the U.S.

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What is the current landscape of the Workforce Development Sector in the U.S.?

RESEARCH QUESTION
Modern Structure

College to Jobs

Creating smoother connections

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Only 26% of U.S. working adults believe their college education is relevant to their work.  

WHY IT MATTERS

OUR APPROACH

A Research-Practice Initiative to understand and disseminate effective college-career interventions

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Which models improve career outcomes and economic mobility?

RESEARCH QUESTION
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The    Care-force
The future of healthcare jobs

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How has COVID-19 changed supply and demand of healthcare roles?

RESEARCH QUESTION
OUR APPROACH

Research partnerships with policymakers and employers to build better healthcare career pathways

OUR APPROACH
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Only about 10% of nursing assistants become registered nurses within six years

WHY IT MATTERS

Millions of Americans still lack clear pathways to sustained advancement in the labor market. Success cases exist in pockets, but lessons have been difficult to generalize and scale. We need to move the needle.

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