AP reported this week that RAISE US, a new bipartisan nonprofit led by former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, launched with $500 million in backing from OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and Bank of America — the same ecosystem accelerating AI adoption in U.S. workplaces. Pilot programs will begin in…
When child care availability is mapped against where parents actually work and live, what does the resulting gap reveal about whose labor force participation is treated as optional infrastructure versus essential? The United States has a child care shortage. That statement is true and insufficient. A shortage implies scarcity affecting everyone equally. What actually exists…
Companies are cutting workers while building the infrastructure meant to replace some of their work. The 2026 layoff cycle has passed the point where it can be explained as a correction from pandemic-era hiring. As of June 24, the 2026 layoffs tracker counted 267 layoff events affecting 185,894 workers. More than half of those events…
Universities are increasingly being asked to solve a problem businesses created: hiring for skills workers have never had the chance to develop. Labor markets depend on a simple bargain. Employers identify skills they need. Workers acquire those skills. Employers hire the workers who have them. Artificial intelligence has broken that bargain. Companies now routinely advertise positions requiring AI experience….
Lizzo’s album sold 2,650 copies in its opening week. The industry blamed controversy or label support. The real issue: commercial success built on representing a cultural moment doesn’t survive the moment shifting. Lizzo’s first album in four years, Bitch, sold just 2,650 copies in its opening week and failed to chart. Rolling Stone reported industry observers citing familiar culprits:…
New York’s crackdown on fake job listings treats a symptom, not a disease. The real problem is that labor markets now reward the appearance of growth as much as growth itself. New York lawmakers approved legislation targeting “ghost jobs”—postings for positions that do not exist or are not actively being filled. Employers would face disclosure requirements: state…
A generation discovered creative expression on a platform they did not control, invested emotional and cultural labor in it, and is now experiencing the dissolution of the infrastructure they built as the platform’s ownership and operational focus shifts. TikTok’s cultural significance for Gen Z is not accidental. The platform’s algorithm, format, and accessibility created space…
A federal appellate court decision reshaped what workers are legally permitted to communicate about their workplaces, narrowing the scope of protected speech in ways that shift the balance between employer control and worker voice. The National Labor Relations Act has long protected certain worker speech as a matter of federal law. That protection is not…
A dollar figure changes an argument in a way a moral appeal can’t. Brookings’ Center for Community Uplift convened an event this month built around a new tool: the Black Business Parity Dashboard. The model answers a specific question usually discussed in vague terms — what would actually happen, in dollars, jobs, and wages, if…
The dominant policy argument for fixing American housing is supply. Build more units. Loosen zoning restrictions. Allow density. Let the market respond to demand. The argument has shaped legislation at the federal level, driven ballot measures in dozens of cities, and organized one of the most influential housing advocacy movements in recent years under the…