Data for an Inclusive Economic Recovery

A truly inclusive economic recovery means that the workers and businesses most impacted by the pandemic—as well as workers who have been held back by structural barriers of discrimination or lack of opportunity—are empowered to equitably participate in and benefit from the economy’s expansion and restructuring.

The Pandemic magnified the need for timely, accurate, and complete data, as well as data systems that are agile enough to get actionable information into the hands of policymakers. An inclusive economic recovery is one that identifies and uplifts those most impacted, and centers have proven strategies to support workers’ pathways to skilled careers so that a better post-pandemic future of work can be created. To get there, policymakers need data on who benefits from economic recovery policies and transparency on the outcomes of skills policies that allow them to gauge the well-being of workers and businesses.

This report documents the researchers’ vision for better data and stronger workforce data policies through the exploration of the following insights:

• Federal agencies and states need to have a robust and forward-thinking approach to data, so policymakers proactively use data to change and advance new policies that support an inclusive economic recovery.
• Federal agencies and states need to expand the use of disaggregated data to identify equity gaps in access to high-quality skills training and attainment of quality non-degree credentials that have value to workers and businesses.
• Federal policies need to make significant and ongoing investments in data systems and capacity, collaborate on shared and comparable outcome metrics, and prioritize public transparency through existing legislation such as Workforce Investment Opportunity Act reauthorization or implementation of federal recovery legislation.
• Skill advocates need to understand how data policies provide value and transparency for evaluating skills training and workforce programs and supporting evidence-based policy and decision-making that benefits workers and businesses.

(This report is 44 pages in length and was published in 2022.)

The researchers identified the following recommendations:

• Require that all education and skill training programs include a collection of self-reported demographic characteristics of workers and learners so outcomes can be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, English language proficiency, income, and geography.
• Ensure participants of skills training programs know what demographic characteristics are being collected about them, who will have access to personally identifiable information and how their data will be used.
• Establish common outcomes metrics across federal skills training programs.
• Expand outcomes to include those that allow policymakers to assess the quality of skills training programs and measure economic mobility along a career pathway.
• Ensure equitable access to administrative data.
• Mandate public reporting on skills training and workforce investment outcomes.
• Provide sufficient funding for linked education and workforce data systems.

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2022
• Author(s): Vilsack, R.; Laprad, J.
• Funding Source: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Wesley Peterson
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies