Skills and Future of Work
Navigate forward to interact with the calendar and select a date. Press the question mark key to get the keyboard shortcuts for changing dates.
Navigate backward to interact with the calendar and select a date. Press the question mark key to get the keyboard shortcuts for changing dates.
As nations engage in a race for global advantage in innovation, ITIF champions a new policy paradigm that ensures businesses and national economies can compete successfully by spurring public and private investment in foundational areas such as research, skills, and 21st century infrastructure. Our research on skills and the future of work covers skill-building through science, technology, engineering, and math education; use of technology in primary and secondary school; higher education reform; innovations such as massive open online courses; and incumbent worker-training policies.

Publications and Events
May 15, 2023|Podcasts
Podcast: Deciphering the World of Data, With George Sciadas
A data-driven world raises the stakes for numeric literacy.
April 24, 2023|Reports & Briefings
Short Circuited: Electrical Engineering Degrees in the United States
Innovation in electrical engineering (EE) powers the U.S. economy, yet the share of students graduating with EE degrees has declined. This reduces EE innovation and production in the United States. Congress should act.
April 17, 2023|Blogs & Features
Fact of the Week: US Ranks 10th Among OECD Countries in Share of Employees With AI-Related Skills
In 2019, the AI workforce made up 0.37 percent of the total workforce in the United States, which ranked 10th out of 24 OECD nations and was only slightly higher than the OECD average of 0.34 percent.
April 3, 2023|Blogs & Features
Fact of the Week: Apprenticeships in the US Increased by 66 Percent Between 2011 and 2021
Between 2011 and 2021, the number of active apprenticeships in the United States increased from 357,692 to 593,690, a 66 percent increase.
March 27, 2023|Blogs & Features
Fact of the Week: Each Industrial Robot Installed in Recent Years Created Between 13 and 16 Jobs
From 2005 to 2016, economists Jon Chung and Yong Suk Lee found that, while robots initially led to lower employment and wages for affected workers, that trend reversed as firms and workers adjusted to the broader adoption of robots in production.
March 23, 2023|Events
How AR/VR Can Help Expand Apprenticeship Programs
Watch the panel discussion with policymakers and industry leaders about how the use of immersive technologies could bolster the efforts to increase apprenticeship offerings and enrollment in the United States. The event will feature remarks by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE).
March 13, 2023|Blogs & Features
Fact of the Week: The Share of Job Postings in the US Allowing Remote and Hybrid Work Arrangements Has More Than Tripled Since 2019
The share of job postings in the United States saying new employees could work from home at least one day per week increased from about 4 percent in 2019 to 14 percent in early 2023.
March 1, 2023|Blogs & Features
Industry Disruption Isn’t Accelerating; It’s Shifting to the Physical World
Defending Digital Series, No. 15: While ChatGPT and generative artificial intelligence have great potential, predictions of ever-increasing digital disruption thus far have proven to be false. Looking ahead, the most significant societal shifts won’t be driven by digital technology; they will stem from the demands of the physical world.
February 13, 2023|Reports & Briefings
The Case for Immersive Tech in Apprenticeship Programs
Immersive technologies have already proved to be useful in supplementing classroom education and on-the-job training. Those successes underscore how implementing the technology can bolster the effectiveness of apprenticeship programs in the United States.
January 23, 2023|Blogs & Features
Fact of the Week: 36 Percent of Online Households Making $50,000 or Less Are Classified As Having Low Digital Skills
A national survey of households making $50,000 or less, all with at least some form of online connectivity, classified 36 percent of respondents as having low digital skills. 39 percent were in the high digital skills category.