In April 2012, the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Labor released a letter endorsing the concept of "Career Pathways" as a promising approach to address the country's challenge of how to prepare workers of all skill levels to participate fully in the country's economic future. The Departments defined Career Pathways as a series of connected education and training strategies and support services that enable individuals to secure industry relevant certification and obtain employment within an occupational area and to advance to higher levels of future education and employment in that area and encouraged the constituency of each Department to work together to create seamless systems that would result in workers gaining industry-recognized credentials and jobs with family-sustaining wages.

This report was developed for workforce development professionals in the United Kingdom; however, it highlights career pathways and cluster programs in several States. From the profiles of the different programs, lessons learned and policy implications are drawn which are helpful to those in the U.S. wishing to replicate a career pathway model.

This toolkit, provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, provides a guide for States and localities interested in developing a career pathways initiative. The toolkit centers around six key elements that are essential to developing an initiative. Promising practices are highlighted, and specific tools are included in this step by step, user friendly resource for human service administrators.

The United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report that examined long-term unemployment (more than 27 weeks), entry into and out of long-term spells of unemployment, and the effect of long-term unemployment on average wages. The period of study covered the mid-1980s through 2009. More than 22 percent of the men in the study experienced at least one long-term spell of unemployment from their labor market entry through 2009. On average, the first long-term unemployment spell lasted 55 weeks. The majority of men eventually found another job, although the average hourly wage declined more than 17 percent from two years before the beginning of the first long-term unemployment spell to the year after it began. Hourly wages began to trend upwards in the years following the first long-term unemployment spell. However, four years after onset of the first long-term unemployment spell, average hourly wages were still at seven percent below what they were four years before the spell began.

The National Governors' Association (NGA) announced a new year-long initiative, detailed in the brief, "America Works: Education and Training for Tomorrow's Jobs." The initiative will concentrate on improvement of the education and workforce training systems, as well as alignment of those systems with the needs of individual State economies.

The Urban Institute released a report discussing the community of the long-term unemployed. Individuals who have been out of work for more than 26 weeks (the long-term unemployed) tend to be less educated and are more likely to be non-white, unmarried, disabled, impoverished, and to have worked previously in the construction industry and construction occupations. The long-term unemployed have much more in common with workers who are newly unemployed and workers who have become discouraged and dropped out of the labor force. This suggests that solutions to long-term unemployment may be effective for other workers who have experienced other forms of labor market distress.

This brief from the Transitional Jobs Network highlights a variety of models currently being used to connect homeless individuals with employment. Models highlighted include transitional jobs, individualized placement support, alternative staffing, customized employment, contextualized basic adult education, adult education bridge programs, and sector-based training. Within each model, a program example is provided for readers to better understand how the strategy is being used in the real world.

The Administration for Children and Families headquarters were joined by Regional offices in a first-ever combined face-to-face and virtual Tribal Consultation.

The Administration for Children and Families' programs are joining the fight for healthy and food secure American Indian and Alaska Native children and families.

This report from Aspen Institute's Workforce Strategies Initiative discusses the challenges of work in the direct-care, residential construction, restaurant and retail industries. It includes profiles of organizations and describes the strategies they are using to improve job quality in these industries.