Preparing for Tomorrow's Middle-Skill Jobs: How Community Colleges Are Responding to Technology Innovation in the Workplace

In this report, we describe a study conducted by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Task Force on the Work of the Future to understand how community colleges are adapting their workforce programs to changing skill demands, diversifying pathways to certificates and degrees, and grappling with equity concerns. [...] Community colleges will continue to play a large role in educating the nation’s workforce, but they will need to adjust to ongoing changes in local labor markets and occupational skill requirements in order to offer compelling workforce programs that attract prospective students and meet the changing needs of regional employers. [...] They want to structure programs and supports in ways that help students advance educationally and in 8 PREPARING FOR TOMORROW’S MIDDLE-SKILL JOBS | APRIL 2022 the labor market, and to do so in ways that narrow rather than exacerbate gaps between racial and ethnic groups (and in some fields, between women and men) in employment, earnings, and other life outcomes. [...] and instruction that In response to these demands for adaptability, leaders in a growing include the use of data, number of workforce programs recognize the need to provide computers, and digital curricula and instruction that include the use of data, computers, technologies. [...] Some colleges we studied reported hesitancy on the part of employers to recognize the talent and skill of community college students and to commit to hiring students for permanent positions.