Workforce

Rural cities get a helping hand for tech workforce and economic development

A public-private partnership to help rural Americans obtain tech skills and jobs is looking to support workforce growth and economic development in small towns.

How one Virginia county takes an ‘intentional’ and ‘intergenerational’ approach to AI

In Fairfax County, one local leader is building staff’s artificial intelligence skills now to ensure the workforce can keep up with tech advances in the future.

Government transformation can succeed, if we stop setting projects up to fail

COMMENTARY | What three state projects can tell us about why major checkpoints in government transformation rarely work as intended.

How higher ed institutions help advance skills-based hiring

As state and local agencies continue to grapple with workforce shortages, an initiative from Amazon Web Services looks to turn university students into an AI-ready workforce.

Pennsylvania turns to AI to help reduce time-to-hire

The state aims to bring the time it takes to hire a new employee down to within 50 days.

Building a pipeline of state and local tech workers

States continue to fret about the brain drain from a generation of retirees. But some are thinking hard about how to get the next generation in, whether they be early-career employees or existing ones in need of new skills.

Tech companies partner to help agencies cut through digital evidence backlogs

A new initiative aims to address workforce shortages among law enforcement agencies that impact their ability to efficiently manage digital evidence like body camera footage.

These states have cracked the customer experience code

COMMENTARY | By implementing enterprise customer experience programs, New York and Maryland are improving service, lowering operating costs and building back trust with constituents.

Schools turn to VR to develop a ‘future-ready’ neurodivergent workforce

The tech can help neurodiverse students prepare for entering the workforce amid government programs aimed at fostering more inclusive workplaces, experts say.

How cyber vulnerabilities and workforce cuts threaten the crisis lifeline program

A bipartisan, bicameral measure is hoping to prevent cyber incidents from limiting access to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline after a 2022 attack on a system operator disrupted calls to the hotline.

Michigan turns to AI to spruce up its workforce development efforts

The Economic Development Corporation is leveraging artificial intelligence to match job seekers with vacant positions across the state.

Measure to require E-Verify for all Florida businesses moves to House

Existing law requires only employers with 25 employees or more to use the system to vet the legal status of their workforces.

Technology is the enabler for state government’s next chapter

COMMENTARY | With tightening budgets and rising expectations, automation and data-driven insights can help leaders be efficient and expand their digital services.

Cuts to federal health agency raise concerns about state and local impacts

The staff and budget cuts at the federal level will hamper state and local health departments’ capacity to juggle public health needs like disease surveillance and data modernization, experts say.

New research finds schools of education fail to prepare teachers to use AI

Not one superintendent we spoke with considered higher education a resource for artificial intelligence-related professional learning.

Partnership for Public Service launches AI Center for Government

The good-government nonprofit said the center will focus on developing AI leaders, building talent and allowing agencies at all levels of government to share information and best practices.

Idaho lawmakers want Department of Labor to study impacts of mandatory E-Verify law

Opponents hope the study will show the negative effects of cracking down on unauthorized workers.

Wisconsin speeds up licensing amid shift to cloud platform

The state saw a 35% increase in the number of licenses it issued in 2023-2024 compared to any other two-year period.

The push to restore semiconductor manufacturing faces a labor crisis − can the US train enough workers in time?

COMMENTARY | Bringing chip manufacturing back to America is a national security and economic priority, but a shortage of skilled workers threatens to derail the effort.

‘Science experimenting’ in a leading AI state

New York CIO Dru Rai said failing fast doesn’t need to be a bad thing as agencies experiment with new technologies.