AEFP 44th Annual Conference Program

The ability to predict what the labor market will look like in the future is an ever popular topic. More than an esoteric exercise, individuals are making choices about one of the largest and most important investments of their lives – their education – based on these predictions. These predictions matter, especially as the cost of formal degree programs continues to outpace wages and student loan debt escalates to a national crisis. Across all industries, the skills required for workforce entry (and retention) are at a higher level impacting the types of jobs available. The “internet of everything” connects people, places, processes and data enabling the gig economy and worker commitments to multiple employers. This rapid pace of change has left many industries without an adequate workforce for middle skills jobs. Public policy may be a contributor to the challenge, as it maintains the status quo of a static system from past economies. If the future of work is fluid, traditional higher education degree programs may be challenged to address labor market demands for alternative credentials deemed acceptable for entry and career progression. Public policy is, and will continue to be, challenged in responding to the dynamic and evolving environment of future work. In this policy talk, the panel will share evidence and experience highlighting how the future of work impacts the secondary, postsecondary, and workforce policy environments. The issues of traditional measures of college and career readiness for high school graduates, the credit hour as the standard for awarding credentials, non-credit certificates, competency-based education, and workplace-based credentialing options as emergent options within the higher education will be considered through the lens of federal and state policy.