Workforce Development

We Can’t Afford To Miss This One-Time Chance To Improve Adult Ed

TalentFirst members are at the forefront of driving improvements in Michigan’s adult education system. As employers, they recognize the critical role that adult ed plays...

Future Focus: HR is All About People, and DEI is Not About Charity

Human Resources and DEI Strategist Ovell Barbee, SPHR, tells a story from his career that emphasizes the importance of remembering that people are at the...

A Look at the Talent Horizon for 2024: More Change and More Solutions

By now, employers and talent professionals are seasoned veterans of the turbulent labor market we have experienced for several years...

Population Headlines Are Grim, but West Michigan is Doing Something Right

A recent Bridge Michigan article might have surprised anyone accustomed to dismissing our neighbor to the south, Indiana. Headlined “Indiana is beating Michigan by attracting...

Join the movement to grow and keep skilled talent in West Michigan

West Michigan currently produces less than one-fourth of the postsecondary graduates we need. As a result, employers have too many openings and not enough skilled...

Why we’re watching Georgia’s experiment with Medicaid work requirements

Through a series of complex legislative and judicial actions, Georgia in July became the only state to implement work requirements to qualify for expanded Medicaid...

Is the ‘Great Resignation’ over? Data shows the answer is complicated

A recent headline from Axios declared what might appear to be good news for employers: “The Great Resignation is over, quit rates return to pre-pandemic...

Michigan misses a talent opportunity by not prioritizing adult education

For more than a decade, Michigan has struggled with a lack of skilled talent. So, the state correctly invested in programs, like Michigan Reconnect, designed...

We can fix the safety net so everyone benefits

Proposed federal legislation to reform food-stamp work requirements has revived a decades-long debate about the nature of benefits programs and their role in keeping people...

How We Can Unlock the Potential of Formerly Incarcerated Talent

An estimated 1 in 3 working-age adults has a criminal history, representing a largely untapped pool of labor that is reliable, productive, eager to succeed...