Shift Work Forward

Most employers want to build more equitable workplaces. The harder question is how.

Chicago has been working on an answer. Through a cohort model that brings together workforce practitioners and employer partners, organizations across the city have been shifting how they hire, retain, and advance workers. The focus areas include fair chance hiring, engaging young adults, training frontline managers, and connecting to talent that's been overlooked.

The results show what's possible when employers have peer support, coaching, and cross-sector partnerships behind them.

On June 9th, the practitioners and employers leading this work will walk through the model and share what they've learned. If you're working to build more equitable hiring and workplace practices in your region, this is worth your time.

Register now for "Collective Impact, Real Change: How Cross-Sector Partnerships Shift Employer Practices" on June 9, 2026 at 2:00 PM Eastern: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/2517791200129/WN_MV_DAPmETVmmhCICFFGHmg

The headline unemployment number tells you something. It doesn't tell you everything.

More workers are staying unemployed for longer stretches of time. The longer someone is disconnected from work, the harder it gets to reconnect to stable employment, training, and career pathways.

Strong workforce systems aren't just about helping people find jobs. They're about keeping people connected to opportunity, especially when the road back is steep.

The unemployment rate is improving. For a lot of experienced workers, it doesn't feel that way Long-term unemployment is defined as six months or more without work. The number of Americans in that group is up more than 300,000 over the past year, even as the overall jobless rate holds at 4.3%.

Skills, training, and hiring matter in workforce development. But they're not the whole picture.

For many workers, the biggest obstacles to career success have nothing to do with what happens inside a job. Childcare costs, housing instability, unreliable transportation, and gaps in healthcare all shape whether someone can get a job, keep it, and actually get ahead.

In the latest episode of State of Our Workforce, we sit down with Daniel Enemark, Vice President and Chief Economist at the Policy and Innovation Center. Daniel shares how his team in San Diego is tackling these challenges, what's working, and where it's been hard.

We also talk about the role employers can play, why cross-sector partnerships matter, and what it looks like when communities actually design solutions around workers' real lives.

Listen and subscribe here:

Building an Economy Where Workers Thrive - Shift Work Forward Too often, workforce conversations focus on skills, training, and hiring. But workers need more than a job to succeed. For many workers, the biggest barriers to career success happen outside the workplace. Childcare, housing costs, transportation, access to healthcare. These challenges shape whether...

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Affordability is a real crisis for working families. But it can't be separated from wages, job quality, and worker power.

Too many people are doing everything right and still falling behind. That's a workforce systems problem, not a personal one.

Good jobs, equitable career pathways, and stronger worker voice aren't side issues. They're central to solving the affordability crisis facing families across the country.

Rising inequality is the root of affordability problems When most people—including policymakers—complain about a lack of affordability, they think of prices being too high. But affordability is the outcome of a race between prices and incomes. After all, goods and services were a lot cheaper 90 years ago during the Great Depression, but we all know t...

Workers in lower-wage jobs want meaningful, family-sustaining careers. That shouldn't surprise anyone. Most have already tried to improve their prospects through job training.

The problem isn't motivation. It's the system.

Training options are limited. The cost of daily life gets in the way of completing programs. And too many workers don't have clear information about what pathways actually lead somewhere good.

Skills and credentials still matter for moving up. But a system that leaves workers to figure things out on their own is failing them.

Shift Work Forward and our Network Partners are working to build career navigation systems that give workers accurate information, real social capital, and the wraparound support they need to succeed.

Read more about what we're building:

We Need a New System for Career Navigation - Shift Work Forward Inflation is on the rise again, and many families are struggling to make ends meet. Childcare and transportation costs soar while wages stagnate. These pressures are especially acute for workers in low-wage roles, which account for nearly half of U.S. employees. These workers are more likely to be w...

Women are holding up enormous parts of the economy right now. Especially mothers.

That reality should push all of us to take childcare, job quality, and workplace flexibility a lot more seriously. These are not personal issues. They are workforce issues. They determine who can stay employed, who advances, and who gets pushed out entirely.

When we ignore the conditions that support working mothers, we don't just fail families. We weaken the workforce.

Read more and share this one.

Women Workers Are a Lifeline for the Economy As Mother’s Day approaches, April jobs data highlight that women have been a bright spot in a volatile labor market, and underneath that trend are working mothers’ labor force participation rates.

A lot of companies are talking about AI like layoffs are simply unavoidable. Workers deserve more honesty than that.

Yes, technology is changing jobs. That's real. But the choices employers make about training, staffing, and job design matter just as much. Those are decisions. And decisions can go differently.

The future of work needs to include workers in the conversation. Read more.

The AI Layoffs Narrative: Real Transformation, or Scapegoat? As companies invest heavily in AI, layoffs across tech and beyond are raising questions about whether automation is truly replacing workers or simply reshaping corporate priorities.

Early bird pricing for SHIFT Conference 2026 ends Sunday night.

If you've been thinking about joining us in Albuquerque this fall, now is the time. Three days of bold conversations, real connections, and strategies for redesigning work and expanding opportunity. This is the gathering where workforce leaders come together to build the future they want to see.

Rates go up Monday. Lock in your spot before Sunday night.

Pricing and Registration - Shift Work Forward Back to all events SHIFT Conference 2026 Pricing and Registration Title SHIFT Conference 2026 Pricing Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Nullam euismod pellentesque adipiscing nisi elementum magnis. Registration Level Early Bird Price Through May 31, 2026 Regular Rate Champion $2,246 $2,495 Cor...