What kind of job opportunities do young people say they want? And what kind of employment opportunities exist?
Recent economic volatility has prompted speculation on Americans’ financial futures and job prospects. But whether we are entering a recession or a new era of “onshoring” jobs, one fact remains: individuals need practical pathways to good jobs and upward mobility. What kind of job opportunities do young people and workers say they want? And what kind of employment opportunities exist?
Any donor investing in the long-term economic well-being of Americans must answer these two questions. In this article, I explain the current situation among the young and employable and describe five ways of thinking about career pathway navigation.
What Do Young People and Workers Say?
Many Gen Z young people do not think they’re career-ready. In a recent poll of over 1,100 high school graduates who opted not to go to college after high school, one in three (32%) said they lacked confidence in knowing what steps to take to a post-high school career and further education. Nor are they well-resourced to clarify their path forward, as their preferred sources of information for post-high school plans were searching the web (87%) and watching online videos (81%).
The gap in good information on advancing in the job market is not limited to Gen Z. The Career Optimism Index, a nationally representative survey of U.S. workers and employers, reports that a majority of current workers want support setting career goals (51%) and identifying job options that match their skills and interests (53%). It also found perception gaps of roughly 25 percentage points between workers and employers when asked whether five career development supports were available to help them set goals and develop skills. For example, 67% of employers say regular conversations with managers about career paths are available, but only 42% of workers agree.
Good Information on Careers
Effective career navigation has many dimensions, including job education and training, support services, and professional networking. Each should be tailored to individual needs to help people from all backgrounds develop the capacity—the personal agency—to pursue economic opportunity.
But accurate employment information forms the bedrock of career navigation. Without good information, career navigation won’t help individuals develop career maps with well-defined pathways to good jobs and careers.
Here are five ways of thinking about career pathway navigation. There are others, of course. But job seekers and philanthropists would do well to understand the breadth of pathways to opportunity that exist in America today.
- Opportunity jobs: The Federal Reserve Banks of Cleveland, Atlanta, and Philadelphia examined labor market differences across 121 metro areas for those with and without bachelor’s degrees, including how skills for one job can transfer to other, higher-paying jobs in the same geographical area. Nearly 22% of the jobs they examined were “opportunity jobs”—jobs filled by workers without bachelor’s degrees that paid at least the national annual median wage adjusted for regional differences. The project created an Occupational Mobility Explorer Tool, with 2023 wage data for more than 500 regions and nearly 600 job titles.
- Launchpad jobs:A first job matters greatly in a young person’s career trajectory. For example, hotel housekeepers and restaurant hosts begin making similar incomes. Two decades later, former hotel housekeepers typically earn $37,000 annually, while former restaurant hosts typically make more than $80,000 annually. The report identified 73 “launchpad jobs” for those with only a high school diploma: jobs where workers who obtain further education and training earn more than $70,000 a year by the age of 40. These launchpad jobs include a wide range of occupations such as bank teller, pharmacy aid, restaurant host, telemarketer, computer support specialist, software developer, flight attendant, and procurement clerk.
- Scorecards:The American Opportunity Index is a corporate scorecard that measures how well large U.S. firms promote employee economic mobility and career advancement, especially for those without a college degree. Firms are ranked on practices like hiring, promotion, retention, and pay. For example, the top 100 employers in hiring are 180% more likely to hire workers without a college degree, creating greater opportunity for entry-level workers. The report highlights best workplace practices and describes how firms can use their ranking to improve their policies and practices.
- College-to-job disconnect:The College-to-Jobs Initiative of Harvard University’s Project on Workforce examines the misalignment between higher education and the U.S. labor market. The initiative includes a first-of-its-kind tool called The College-to-Jobs Map that compares regional college and employment trends, including information on economic mobility and graduation rates. A companion tool called The College-to-Jobs Playbook highlights the strength of the evidence supporting 12 program interventions like career coaching, internships, and apprenticeships that connect college students to quality employment and high earnings.
- Education pathways: This analysisby the Georgetown University Center on Education and Workforce forecasts that groups with higher levels of education and training will still enjoy the lion’s share of good jobs in the next decade. It groups these jobs for workers ages 25–64 by 22 occupational groups and three educational pathways—bachelor’s, middle-skills, and high school. Many of the good jobs the report describes pay well above the minimum earnings threshold, with room for earnings growth over time.
These five tools are not a roadmap in and of themselves. But they are useful starting points for individuals who want advice on practical pathways to good jobs and upward mobility. In the words of Matt Sigelman, President of Burning Glass Institute, “You don’t need a degree to succeed, but you do need a map.” Donors interested in promoting economic opportunity in the United States should listen to this advice.
