Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 10, 2025: Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) is conducting a large-scale assessment of workforce development organizations serving young adults ages 18 to 29 through the Young Adult Workforce Landscape Analysis (YAWLA) project. Through a national survey and a series of focus groups, CSW hopes to learn more about the current priorities and capacity challenges organizations face in their work with young adults and employers. This research will focus on geographic regions where young adults experience significant disparities in the labor market. The findings from this landscape analysis will be published in a public-facing report early this fall.
The workforce development sector experienced significant turmoil during the pandemic, further exacerbated by continued disinvestment at the federal level. Marginalized young adults were among the hardest hit by these structural shifts. The YAWLA survey, conducted with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, will:
- Assess how organizations are providing workforce services to young adults;
- Gather practitioner insights on young adult employment needs that are currently of highest priority/demand;
- Document the extent to which and how organizations work with employers;
- Evaluate how the current funding and policy landscape influences practitioner work with young people and employers; and
- Identify the partnerships, services, and resources that need to be strengthened or developed to support quality employment opportunities for young adults.
CSW’s Director of Improving Practices & Outcomes, Chioke Mose-Telesford, stated, “The nature of work, and how young adults access, view, and maneuver through the labor market, has drastically changed in the last ten years. The data from this survey will be vital to understanding what’s happening in the young adult workforce sector and help shape how this work is funded and supported in the next few years.”
The national survey will be launched on June 10, 2025, and runs through July 3, 2025. The survey is open to any U.S.-based nonprofit organization that provides employment or workforce services to young adults aged 18 to 29, with a particular focus on the South and the Southwest. Survey respondents and focus group participants will be entered into a raffle to win one of four (4) $1,000 awards.
For more information or to participate in the survey, visit https://yaworkforcelandscape.org/. Questions about the project may be sent to Alex Breen (abreen@skilledwork.org).
About Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW): Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) is a national workforce policy non-profit that partners with government, business, education, and community leaders to cultivate good jobs and the skilled workers to fill them. Since 1991, CSW has catalyzed change in educational and labor market systems, focusing on scalable improvements in worker skills, job quality, and access to opportunity. CSW provides services across five strategy areas: Competencies & Credentials; Improving Practices & Outcomes; Federal, State, & Local Systems Change; Research & Evaluation; and Trauma & Resilience at Work. CSW advances policies and practices which increase economic mobility, particularly for people of color and others historically excluded from success.
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