Workforce Monitor Weekly - Sept. 26, 2021 - Seven Books, One Review, Master's Degree Decline

We’ve been scanning online for books on workforce education. Below we list seven book picks. We quoted from eBook samples downloaded to our Kindle reader. Someday we may get around to reading them in full, but, in the meantime, reviews are welcome.

Fulfillment is not an exposé of Amazon as much as it is an investigation of America as it falls under the growing operating shadow of our largest online retailer (Amazon). After reading Fulfillment, I believe that this book is both an exposé of Amazon as well as an exposé of how our federal, state, and local authorities have subsidized the growth of Amazon and other companies through generous tax concessions, lax regulations, and deliberate waivers of oversight.

A recent article written by Eduventures senior analyst Clint Raine, “What’s Happening in the Business Master’s Market,” stated that master’s degrees conferrals in the business area had only grown by 3% over the past decade while overall master’s degrees conferrals grew by 11%. In the article, Mr. Raine asked if the lower growth rate in conferrals meant that prospects were losing interest in business or if the lower rate was related to something else.

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment rates in the US dramatically increased, and today – more than one year later – the unemployment rate remains higher than before the pandemic. While job searches are often arduous and can take a toll on mental health, job centers and online course providers are uniquely positioned to support job seekers in their efforts to reskill, upskill, and secure employment.

Monroe Community College’s partnership with employers improved most markers of job quality for Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs).

Working to Learn, a recent white paper from Harvard University’s Project on Workforce, brings new data to the forefront for college leaders weighing next steps.

We are witnessing the remaking of higher education. Strategies for mainstream colleges and universities must change from the short term to the long term as large-scale collaboratives and huge corporations enter the field.

This brief explains how the core components of youth apprenticeship programs fit together and presents a set of principles that providers can adopt to improve the quality of their programs.

There is an urgent need to improve our people development systems to a point where our efforts to attract, train, and retain people create an environment that values people for their personalities and qualities, not just their productivity.

IDC forecasts that cloud-related technologies will account for 27% of digital transformation IT spending this year, growing to 37% in 2026, as businesses focus on establishing digital HQs to deliver customer and employee success from anywhere. Remote work, contactless customer engagement, and sustainability efforts are becoming more prevalent than ever, and IDC expects this trend will only continue. 

Whether you need new skills for a promotion or want a new job entirely, these options make it easy and—in many cases—free to learn something new.

As the state works to address worker shortages, some are looking at older workers to fill the gap.

Retail workers face a unique future since the industry is evolving but preparing now helps ready for these changes.

This tool helps state and local leaders to use data to evaluate and demonstrate the impact of youth apprenticeship programs.