While more than a third of businesses expect to expand their workforce in the coming year, some firms have started to reduce headcount by not replacing outgoing workers. Most businesses would take that approach, or keep employment steady, if demand softened in the near future.

Pandemic-era unemployment insurance affected recoveries of low-wage job markets and high-wage job markets differently.

The Recompete Pilot Program intends to boost economic competitiveness in selected underperforming areas by dispersing grants to fund proposed infrastructure, workforce, and business development activities.

Over the past year, firms have had difficulty finding workers. Recent evidence from Fifth District business surveys indicates the difficulty is shifting from lower- to higher-skilled hires.

Labor force participation in Maryland and Virginia is down considerably compared to 2019, but different age and gender groups have fallen out of the labor force in the two states.

The Richmond Fed's Survey of Community College Outcomes presents a new way to measure success that includes previously underrepresented cohorts of students, including those receiving Pell grants.

States and school districts are using a variety of policies – including financial incentives – to try to combat a teacher shortage.

States and communities are looking for remote workers as sources of economic growth. Is offering them cash and other perks a promising model of economic development?

A brief review of the development of the Hornstein-Kudlyak-Lange Non-Employment Index, an alternative to the standard unemployment rate that includes all non-employed individuals and accounts for persistent differences in their labor market attachment.

There can be high returns to earning an economics degree, helping to draw students to the profession.

The elevated number of job openings in recent months have been a very stark signal of labor market tightness. But some signs may be pointing to that tightness starting to ease.

How competitive is the U.S. labor market? Answering this question quantitatively is helpful for understanding how wages are affected by labor market power, and thus for understanding how workers will be affected by labor policy choices.

How many more borrowers working in public services recently became eligible for student loan forgiveness in the Fifth District?

In a world where employers are struggling to find workers, facilitating meaningful work and competitive pay for previously incarcerated individuals could improve economic outcomes both for the individuals and their communities.

Andreas Hornstein and Thomas Lubik discuss their research on changes in the labor market since the pandemic. Hornstein and Lubik are senior advisors at the Richmond Fed.

Laura Ullrich and Jason Kosakow discuss how community colleges contribute to their local economies, especially rural communities, and how their new survey addresses knowledge gaps about these important contributions. Ullrich is a regional economist based at the Richmond Fed's Charlotte office and Kosakow is the Bank's survey director.

Fewer veterans are using their education benefits. Is this trend a problem — or a sign of a more welcoming job market?

George Mason University economist on credentialism, the new math of causation, and the lasting economic influence of youthful experiences.

When immigration is restricted in rural areas, native workers don't seem to fill the jobs left empty.

Kelly Bowers, economic development director for Hertford County, N.C., discusses the challenges and opportunities facing her community. She highlights the importance of collaboration across state lines and the need for infrastructure such as broadband and affordable housing to support growth.

This new system for measuring community college outcomes better reflects how the institutions are serving their students and communities than current data collection methods.

Unlike in other recessions, women's labor force participation was impacted more than men's. What impact did child care have?

Arantxa Jarque and Daniela Scidá share the challenges faced by women in the economics profession and the progress that the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond has made in addressing them. Jarque is a senior policy economist in the Richmond Fed's Research department and Scida is a financial economist and manager in the Bank's Quantitative Supervision and Research group.

The unemployment rate is close to pre-pandemic lows, and job openings are at record highs. Yet, participation and employment rates are still below pre-pandemic levels.

In our March business survey, we found that firms continue to struggle finding workers across skill levels, particularly in the low- to mid-skill range.

Revised historical monthly employment and unemployment data provide new clarity on the track of labor market recovery in Fifth District states.

Renee Haltom, vice president and regional executive, reflects on key insights from the District Dialogues event held Feb. 8, 2022. The discussion focused on changes in the nature of work, the workforce and the skills needed, and how workers and employers are responding.

They've received enduring, yet tepid, bipartisan support since the 1960s

Entrepreneurship creates many local benefits, but starting a new business in rural places can be challenging

The pandemic has worsened a long-standing national shortage of nurses. Rural communities face the greatest challenges.

Remote work options seem to go hand in hand with greater geographic reach in recruitment efforts for some firms.

For the 50th episode of the podcast, hosts Jessie Romero, Charles Gerena and Tim Sablik use previous episodes to explore how labor markets are shaped by the economic choices we make throughout our lifetimes, from childhood to adulthood to old age.

Mary Ann Gilmer of Goodwill Industries of the Valleys discusses the nonprofit's training program for healthcare workers and the importance of this work in rural communities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gilmer is chief strategy and people officer at Goodwill.

Mark Bils of the University of Rochester and Niklas Engbom of New York University discuss their research on how easily labor is substituted or shifted between jobs and its implications for policies to bolster human capital.

Will four-year degrees become less of a gateway for high-paying jobs? Should they?

Government transfers may allow households to pull back from work to take care of loved ones or engage in other valued activities.

During a two-day Community Conversations visit to Lynchburg, Virginia, Bank leaders learned about ways the region has cultivated economic collaboration and innovation.

Maia Linask and Tatyana Avilova share their career journeys in the field of economics and discuss what motivated them to organize the Diverse Economics Conference this November.

The labor force was pushed into a massive remote work experiment in 2020. What are employers in the Fifth District planning, and what challenges do they anticipate?

This post explores lagged recovery in labor force participation for Black and Hispanic women that started at the onset of the COVID-19 recession.

Focusing on a complete household's needs, Garrett County Community Action Committee's integrated "2Gen approach" links children to high-quality early education and their parents to services that build financial security.

President Tom Barkin discusses how employers might change their hiring practices to bring more people into the labor market as the recovery continues.

Sonya Waddell and Andy Bauer discuss the history of telework and the future implications of alternative work arrangements in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of people working from home increased substantially in 2020, as many employers changed their work arrangements in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.