Unlocking Skills: Successful Initiatives for Integrating Foreign-Trained Immigrant Professionals

Unlocking Skills: Successful Initiatives for Integrating Foreign-Trained Immigrant Professionals. Migration Policy Institute. Margie McHugh and Madeleine Morawski. February 2017.

With nearly 2 million college-educated immigrants and refugees in the United States unable to fully utilize their professional skills, better understanding of the elements of successful programs and policies that reduce the waste of advanced education and skills can benefit immigrants, their families, and the U.S. economy more generally.

This report explores a range of frontline programs and policy reforms that are providing cutting-edge career navigation, relicensing, gap filling, and job search assistance for foreign-trained professionals in a wide range of occupations. It also examines different state policy and licensing contexts that affect these highly skilled individuals, with a focus on the dense thicket of state laws and regulations that slow or prevent qualified individuals from practicing in a wide range of occupations. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 43 pages, 5.65 MB].

Public Predictions for the Future of Workforce Automation

Public Predictions for the Future of Workforce Automation. Pew Research Center. Aaron Smith. March 10, 2016.

From self-driving vehicles and semi-autonomous robots to intelligent algorithms and predictive analytic tools, machines are increasingly capable of performing a wide range of jobs that have long been human domains. A 2013 study by researchers at Oxford University posited that as many as 47% of all jobs in the United States are at risk of “computerization.” And many respondents in a recent Pew Research Center canvassing of technology experts predicted that advances in robotics and computing applications will result in a net displacement of jobs over the coming decades – with potentially profound implications for both workers and society as a whole. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 12 pages, 602.7 KB].

Planning for Higher Education Programs: Effectively Using Data and Modeling to Understand Workforce Needs

Planning for Higher Education Programs: Effectively Using Data and Modeling to Understand Workforce Needs. RAND Corporation. Charles A. Goldman et al. April 23, 2015.

Workforce data sources provide valuable information, though no source should be used on its own. The information should be used to manage new and ongoing degree programs and for periodic strategic planning, according to the authors. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 4 pages, 97.96 KB].

Battlefields and Boardrooms: Women’s Leadership in the Military and the Private Sector

Battlefields and Boardrooms: Women’s Leadership in the Military and the Private Sector. Center for a New American Security. Nora Bensahel et al. January 2015.

The end of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan marks the close of the first era where women rose through the military ranks into significant leadership roles. As the first female graduates of the service academies from the class of 1980 approach the 35th anniversary of their commissioning, the moment offers an opportunity to eflect upon the individual and institutional characteristics enabling the rise of women into senior leadership roles across the services.

Similarly, significant changes in legislation and social trends throughout the 1970s produced an expanding cohort of female executives within the private sector. While their experiences are clearly different from those of their military counterparts, comparing the experiences of women in these two distinct communities permits an assessment of the challenges and opportunities that women face throughout their careers that lead to or hinder their success – and, ultimately, the success of their institutions, by enabling them to draw on the full range of the nation’s talent. [Note: contains copyrighted material].

[PDF format, 44 pages, 3.8 MB].