In the final episode of the Work in Progress podcast series The Manufacturing Comeback, we look at how employers are recruiting and training veterans and women to fill jobs in the manufacturing industry. Employers Anticipate a Surge in Hiring in Manufacturing On my recent trip to Minneapolis for The Manufacturing Institute's Workforce Summit 2025, employers told me that there are a lot of new plants being built around the country, bringing jobs back to the states. The...

This is Episode Two of The Manufacturing Comeback, a three-part Work in Progress podcast series. The series takes you inside the surge in hiring in the manufacturing industry. In this episode, we look at how small manufacturers are recruiting and training workers. Small Companies are Looking for Talent On my recent trip to Minneapolis for The Manufacturing Institute's Workforce Summit 2025, I sat down with leaders from several small companies, including Ketchie Precision...

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, we begin a three-part series examining the manufacturing comeback in the United States, the resulting surge in job creation, and the types of skills workers need to get those jobs. In the series, we explore how the nation's employers are finding, training, and retraining the talent to fill as many as 3.8 million jobs over the next eight years. Manufacturers say they are already having trouble filling those jobs. Episode One of...

In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by two leaders of the U.S. Coast Guard Career Investment Division, Chief Stephen Keck and Deputy Chief Christopher Cruz. We take a look at how the Coast Guard is preparing its service members for the vital jobs they do in active service to the country and giving them the training, credentials, and degrees they need to succeed in the civilian workforce, including in critical national security roles. Transitioning from active military duty...

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I'm joined by Taj Eldridge, managing director of Jobs for the Future (JFF), to discuss the growing opportunity for good-paying climate-resilient jobs and for entrepreneurs who want to combine enterprise and purpose. The climate-resilient industry, says Eldridge, is still in an "adolescent phase" but is estimated to be valued at $5 trillion globally. Emerging technologies and entrepreneurial activity is growing, due to federal,...

In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Chike Aguh, senior advisor to The Project on Workforce at Harvard University and the former Chief Innovation Officer for the Biden Administration. He's also a member of the WorkingNation Advisory Board. We sat down to discuss the impact of AI and tech innovation on the workforce, particularly midcareer and older workers, at the Equity Summit 2024 in Washington, a collaboration between CWI Labs, Center for Workforce Inclusion, and...

In this episode of Work in Progress, Frankie Miranda, president and CEO of the Hispanic Federation, and Mauricio Garcia, senior VP of programs for UnidosUS join me to discuss the digital divide that is threatening to create further barriers to family-sustaining jobs for Latinos and Hispanics. You've probably heard about the digital gap or digital divide in the U.S. For U.S. Latinos that gap is significant. According to the Pew Research Center, 80% of whites are connected to broadband...

In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by Carolyn Lee, president and executive director of The Manufacturing Institute, to talk about what's behind the comeback in manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and what employers need to do to fill another 3.8 million jobs over the next eight years. "We are at a all-time high since the Great Recession with manufacturing jobs filled here in the sector," says Lee. "We're just hovering at 13 million and that means we have recovered from all the...

In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by Mariela Salas, Ph.D., executive director of SomosVC, a nonprofit focused on accelerating and elevating the presence of Latinos and Latinas in the venture capital industry. The organization argues that if more Latinos become VCs, more money will flow to diverse startup founders. In simple terms, venture capital itself is a type of financing for startups and small businesses with very high, long-term growth potential. Despite making up...

In this episode of Work in Progress, AmeriCorps CEO Michael D. Smith joins me to discuss how taking part in the national service program can help you serve your community, giving you a sense of purpose, while also helping you develop hard and soft career skills. Since 1993, AmeriCorps has been providing opportunities for Americans of all backgrounds to personally address the nation's most pressing challenges and improve lives in their communities. They are working in our schools, working at...

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I'm joined by Dr. Antonio Tijerino, president and CEO of the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, to talk about the two pillars of the nonprofit's mission: workforce development and education for the Hispanic community, the fastest-growing part of the U.S. workforce. Over the next seven years, nearly eight in 10 new jobs in the labor market will be filled by a Latino, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The majority of those jobs will...

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, STRIVE president & CEO Philip Weinberg and STRIVE board co-chair Roy Castro join me to discuss how the nonprofit has been connecting historically-excluded populations to life-changing careers and skills for the past 40 years. "We believe in the principles of equity and justice and opportunity for all. There's too many individuals, as we know, in our communities who are talented and looking for access to build a career, but often...

Skilled trade workers are in big demand and short supply and it just might be a career pathway you should consider. WorkingNation and Scripps News have partnered on a new series, Fire Up Your Career, to explore the types of jobs available, what employers are doing to attract talent, and how you can get the skills needed for these good-paying jobs popping up all across the country. Read the article and listen to the podcast, then watch the video below of WorkingNation on Scripps News...

In this episode of Work in Progress, Josh Elder, vice president and head of grantmaking for Siegel Family Endowment, joins me to discuss the importance of tech connectivity in creating access and opportunity to jobs in rural America. We also talk about the overall impact technology is having on society, education, and the way we do our jobs. For more than 10 years, the Siegel Family Endowment, a private family foundation, has supported a wide range of grantees that are focused on...

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, Brian Peckrill, executive director of the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, and Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president and CEO of SHRM, join me in a discussion on how an ethical leader can foster a strong culture of integrity and inclusion from the top of the organization to the bottom. For the past three years, the McGowan Charitable Fund and SHRM have partnered to present the Ethical Leader of the Year Award to a CEO they believe embodies...

In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Scott Pulsipher, president of Western Governors University to talk about how the online university flips the standard postsecondary education model to create individualized learning plans for each student. We also discuss the latest WGU offering: a new fund designed to help prepare students for jobs in nursing, which is now facing a critical shortage nationwide. Since its founding in 1997. Western Governors University (WGU) has prided...

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I'm joined by Brittany Greer, the executive director of Rosie Riveters, a nonprofit that is working to close the gender gap in the STEM workforce. There are an estimated 2.8 million unfilled STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) jobs in this country. Meanwhile, women make up just 28% of the STEM workforce. Since 2016, Brittany Greer has been working to change that. The nonprofit she founded aims to inspire girls aged...

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I'm joined by Sarah Keh, the vice president of corporate social responsibility at Prudential Financial to discuss the company's $180 million committment to helping opportunity youth find a pathway to good jobs and wealth building. Keh sat down with me to discuss the philanthropy in June at the Aspen Ideas Festival. Opportunity youth are young people between the ages of 16 and 24 who currently are not in formal education or training and...

In this episode of the Work in Progress podcast, I am joined by Vilas Dhar, president, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation and a global expert on AI, equity, and how artificial intelligence is shaping our society. We sat down at the Aspen Ideas Festival in June to discuss whether AI is having a positive or negative impact on the workforce. Vilas Dhar calls the release of ChatGPT an important social moment, not a technological one. "AI didn't start in November of 2022. Researchers,...

In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland. We sat down together at the Aspen Ideas Festival last week to talk about what his administration is doing to create economic mobility and opportunity for all its citizens. When it comes to putting people to work in Maryland, Gov. Wes Moore says he embraces the ethos he first learned when he joined the U.S. Army as a teenager: Leave No One Behind. "It's a great lens on how we should view our work....

In this episode of Work in Progress, I am joined by John Mitchell, president & CEO, IPC International to discuss the increased demand for workers in the semiconductor manufacturing industry and how the group is developing the workforce of the present and the future. Semiconductors are the backbone of the digital economy, powering our cars, planes, medical tech, cybersecurity, our dishwashers and TVs, and they are at the heart of AI. Nearly everything we touch needs a chip, and...

In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by writer-producer Ron Friedman and David Gittins, executive director of Age Inclusion in Media, to talk about the way the media portrays older adults and how these stereotypes can have a profound impact on workers and job seekers in the real world. I'm going to start out by saying, you can read about this conversation, but I believe you need to hear it or watch it for yourself to really capture what it means to be portrayed as "out of...

In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by Bijal Shah, Guild's new CEO, to discuss how big companies are helping their employees find their next career step inside or outside the company through education benefits. And, we look a new Guild partnership that's helping Olympians find their next career beyond sports. Shah is new to the job of CEO, assuming it full-time in April after 34-year-old CEO and co-founder Rachel Romer stepped down to focus on her continued recovery from a...

In this episode of Work in Progress, I'm joined by Steven Lee, CEO of the SkillUp Coalition, a nonprofit that has already supported two million people looking for training and job pathways in in-demand careers. We discuss the first four years of the organization's work, and what is ahead this summer, including the launch of a new AI-powered tool. The SkillUp online platform is free. It offers both a curated selection of training programs that are low-cost, short-term, and offer...