Skills are a central source of high productivity and economic well-being. But what do we mean by productive skills? Both with regard to measurement and policy, the primary focus in the U.S. has been on academic skills, as measured by tests of reading, writing and math abilities and by...

Concerns about the polarization of the labor market are widespread. However, countries vary widely in strategies for strengthening jobs at intermediate levels of skill. This paper examines the diversity of approaches to apprenticeship and related training for middle-level occupations. We begin...

Concerns about the polarization of the labor market are widespread. However, countries vary widely in strategies for strengthening jobs at intermediate levels of skill. This paper examines the diversity of approaches to apprenticeship and related training for middle-level occupations. We begin...

Can expanded apprenticeship reduce the concerns about the U.S. workforce? The U.S. labor market faces a rise in unemployment rates, sharp declines in the employed share of U.S. adults, extremely high youth unemployment, high wage inequality, and low or stagnant wage growth for workers below the...

Skills are a central source of high productivity and economic well-being. But what do we mean by productive skills? Both with regard to measurement and policy, the primary focus in the U.S. has been on academic skills, as measured by tests of reading, writing and math abilities and by...

Can expanded apprenticeship reduce the concerns about the U.S. workforce? The U.S. labor market faces a rise in unemployment rates, sharp declines in the employed share of U.S. adults, extremely high youth unemployment, high wage inequality, and low or stagnant wage growth for workers below the...

Concerns about the polarization of the labor market are widespread. However, countries vary widely in strategies for strengthening jobs at intermediate levels of skill. This paper examines the diversity of approaches to apprenticeship and related training for middle-level occupations. We begin...

Economists once believed firms do not pay to develop occupational skills that workers could use in other, often competing, firms. Researchers now recognize that most firms benefit from investing in apprenticeship training. Evidence indicates that financial returns to firms vary. Some recoup...

Long run labor market trends in the American economy pose significant challenges. The employment-to-population ratio has steadily fallen. Growth in real money wages has been slow, with the most rapid gains taking place among workers at the top of the earnings distribution. One source of these...