A recent Cleveland Fed study finds that tighter labor markets facilitate job upgrading, boosting upward mobility and access to good jobs for workers in low-quality occupations.

The US needs greater investment in workforce development that aligns with what local employers needs, notes Cheryl Oldham, who leads workforce and education programs at the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Research indicates that the robust economic policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic and historically fast employment recovery resulted in reduced poverty and inequality even amid unprecedented pandemic-induced labor market dislocations, according to a recent working paper from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.