According to a March 2026 economic news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people not in the labor force but seeking employment remains at 6 million. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) is currently 1.9 million. However, this population has grown by nearly 27%, up from 1.5 million a year earlier.
Workforce development must be embraced as a shared mission across higher education rather than treated as the specialized function of a single division. As we reflect on the declared missions and visions of our respective institutions, an important question emerges: how are we systematically deploying our educators and resources to advance social and economic mobility for those we currently serve and those we must reach next?
It is in this reflection that we must increase our awareness of, urgency for and responsibility to advance workforce development for the greater good of our country.
This article is part of a monthly column in CC Daily by Mordecai Ian Brownlee, president of the Community College of Aurora in Colorado.
Higher education and the workforce imperative
In a study published in 2025 by the Bipartisan Policy Center titled “Bridging the Gap: Meeting Workforce Needs Over the Next Decade,” 192 million job openings are expected in the United States over the next decade, an increase from the 47 million openings it projected between 2014 and 2024. The labor market conditions behind this projection are likely to remain volatile, driven by several factors, including federal immigration reform, retirement trends, the lack of affordable housing, demographic shifts, workplace integration of artificial intelligence and human burnout due to stress.
If higher education intends to make good on its efforts to advance mobility and prepare learners for opportunities in both known and emerging job markets, the concept of workforce development must become universally adopted across academia. The charge should not be simply to create new programs, but for institutions to reframe how workforce development is organized and operationalized across the entire institution.
Workforce across the academy
Far gone must be the days when institutions designed workforce development to operate as stand-alone departments or divisions, separate from the rest of the academy. Such a design has led to years of cultural dissonance across higher education, which has unintentionally communicated, both internally and externally, that academic transfer pathways should not be seen as industry-informed curricula that ultimately lead learners to employment and upward mobility. Such an inference is incorrect.
Whether in the humanities or the sciences, the learning outcomes of every course should advance the learner’s understanding, thereby providing a basis for achieving deeper academic mastery and enabling the application of such skills, whether for intellectual advancement or employment.
The term “stackable credentials,” which began to grow in popularity pre-pandemic, gained significant traction following the Covid pandemic due to the dire need for a credentialed workforce. It is a prime example of the academy advancing workforce development beyond the traditional umbrella of career and technical education.
According to a 2016 toolkit published by the National Skills Coalition, Ohio was the first state to pass state legislation (HB 699) in 2007, requiring the Ohio Board of Regents and the Department of Education to develop a system of pre-college and college-level stackable certificates. According to Inside Higher Ed, in Ohio, more than 40% of students who earned a certificate between 2006 and 2015 went on to stack credentials within four years.
As of 2021, 17 states have allocated funding to colleges to develop stackable credentials pathways, and 10 states require that their community college systems offer and advertise stacking options. As of 2024, 32 states had invested more than $5.6 billion across 70 short-term credential initiatives. As short-term, industry-recognized credentialing continues to take hold across the country, it is important to note that the success of such efforts requires a cross-disciplinary, cross-institutional approach that engages instructional and non-instructional areas of the institution.
Embracing a shared mission
The overall success of learners is not the sole responsibility of one department or division at any institution of higher education. Instead, it is a shared responsibility that each unit within the college embraces through a clearly defined strategic plan that influences the day-to-day actions of faculty and staff through key performance indicators they contribute to. Where such systems are not established, action-to-mission alignment, operational silos and lack of continuity are sure to occur.
Consequently, workforce readiness and job placement must be seen as the responsibility of all who serve the institution, and all must contribute to these outcomes. From work-based learning and career exploration, to internships, externships, apprenticeships, job fairs and employer on- and off-campus engagements, to the design and placement of learners on these pathways, to ultimately the completion of such paths, require an all-in effort.
As we serve in this new era of higher education, fewer institutions will be defined by the number of programs their colleges and universities offer, and more by how they educate, prepare and place students in in-demand jobs and career pathways. Thus, workforce development is not a standalone program to be managed by one; it is a mission-critical element to be embraced by all.
