Getting funding in a crazypants environment, shutdown worries, and $52 billion in grants listings.
Plus, more evidence to aim higher on AI jobs policy and what to do with D.C.'s workforce after federal layoffs.
JOBS THAT WORK: THE MONEY is a weekly rundown of the news and grant listings important for people who use money to get people to work, with exclusive intel and insights for paid subscribers. It’s brought to you by
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Greetings, and a note on THE MONEY in its (current) shutdown era.
Hello from D.C., where things are at a standstill for entirely different reasons than the usual ones. The shutdown has literally put a pause on getting answers to many of the big questions right now—like what’s happened to missing money, will Congress halve workforce spending, and what ways will the White House’s epic battle with Easterseals manifest next?
In light of that, I’m doing something slightly different behind the paywall today: instead of my usual funding intel and analysis, I’m offering up thoughts on how I would recommend engaging the nuts-and-bolts issues in grant applications and current workforce issues. Today, I’m addressing how you prepare for unpredictable competitions.
I have plenty of questions to work through, but I’m always happy to hear from you if there’s something you’d like to see addressed. Email me at nick@jobsthat.work. I’ll also start a paid subscriber conversation through Substack for folks who want to talk more about these topics this lovely little reader community.
Toplines
News you should know about money and things getting people to work.
Our surplus of unnecessary funding apocalypses continues to flourish.
Last week, I got asked a lot about how I think the government will get out of this shutdown given the current political morass. I’m not sure I had a compelling answer, and I must confess I’m struggling with seeing a good way out when the White House mood on economic impacts seems to be “It’s not real if it hurts the federal government—and it might actually be good.”
The mass federal layoffs haven’t appeared—yet—due to what seems like some Republican caution. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them show up in light of this week’s (silly) threats not to pay feds. Still, employed feds are two weeks from their true first missed paycheck, and tens of thousands of feds who took the deferred-resignation offer are now truly unemployed. That can’t be great for the labor economy, even if we have no unemployment claims or jobs report to governmentally assess it.
Interestingly, the Senate is considering advancing each of the funding bills that cleared Senate appropriators back in the summer. That’s a very good thing for workforce funding, which gets restored to its 2024 levels after cuts in a bill to keep the government running in March. I’m skeptical of how effective that strategy will be in reopening the government due to spending hawks in the House who want to pass their own, cut-heavy bills, including one that would halve much of American workforce spending.
While we’re in a frozen period, the need for workforce services is likely to intensify at the local level, where the private sector layoffs are starting to appear. In terms of workforce funding, I have heard more concern this week about providers and workforce boards not being able to access money. It adds to an already brutal year for a lot of these organizations, some of whom do work that shouldn’t be in a political crossfire. I’m not sure if the pain caused will be seen by the White House as anything other than leverage.
In other words, it might be up to the air-traffic controllers now. Seriously.
Odds + ends.
A few interesting things I read this week:
Getting more people into manufacturing jobs.
My friends Michelle and Drew have a piece over at The Century Foundation relevant to a recurring issue of note in this space—what can be done to fill the reported half-million job openings among manufacturers? Their piece offers strategies for doing things I have talked about to address the purported “skills gap” manufacturers have been vocal about this year, including addressing job quality and creating pathways to get more people into manufacturing by getting more people into manufacturing.
Fun fact: last week, I found out that some form of the half-million figure has been around for a decade and a half. We probably should try a few of these things!
Is ‘AI literacy’ really that much of a lift for high schoolers?
The College Board published new research this week showing that the 84 percent of high school students surveyed said they used AI to help with schoolwork. There are some interesting findings here for folks interested in technology, education, and youth—including how high schoolers are using AI—but to me, it really underscores how low our current bar is for what is good workforce development in AI.
For example, the White House’s April AI workforce executive order declared “the policy of the United States [is] to promote AI literacy . . .[by] fostering early exposure to AI concepts and technology to develop an AI-ready workforce[.]” It’s not alone, with tech CEOs similarly urging a focus on “AI literacy.”
Well, the 84 percent figure from this week’s research tells me that current high schoolers seem very literate in AI. Mission accomplished?
I don’t want to understate the tech divide between economically comfortable and not-so-comfortable communities, particularly as a person first educated on tech using a second- or third-hand Apple II in an Alabama public school well into the Windows 3.1 era. That’s a significant problem. Rural kids, especially, have slow internet speeds that don’t sync with AI. I’m worried about how it will manifest in the AI era. Yet, I also think that AI’s user interfaces are so easy that it’s not the same as teaching a kid from 30 years ago how to use a spreadsheet.
The real scenario may not be that specific, but that type of vibe seems to be our frame of reference. And I think research continues to show political leaders’ lack of vision (and shockingly, actual ambition) on AI—and the lack of understanding of what AI is among some political leaders other than “that China-fighting magic, scary, money-making, robot-thinking stuff, which I reiterate we need to fight China.”
We need to get more specific with what we’re trying to teach, aim higher, and stop waiting around for employers to tell us what to do while they’re figuring this stuff out themselves.
How do you reinvent D.C.’s economy for fewer federal jobs?
Something that I occasionally get anxious thinking about: how do you adjust a labor economy built around a very, very specific thing like the federal government and not have the region’s economic fortunes completely crater?
Well, here’s a neat thing that folks in the D.C. region are trying:
Local business and government leaders are launching a job website and $500,000 ad campaign designed to keep retired and laid-off federal workers from leaving the region.
The website, dubbed Talent Capital, will connect job seekers with job listings tailored to their interests and expertise, share training and reskilling opportunities and offer individual coaching. It features an AI agent who walks users through the experience. . . .
Apart from aggregating existing resources and delivering them to users based on their geography, the effort will also seek to encourage growth in key sectors where [D.C. Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn] said job opportunities remained greater than average through June: IT and cybersecurity; financial technology; health sciences; sports and entertainment; and consulting and business services.
“As we spotlight jobs and employers, we’re working to nudge folks into those sectors where we know there will be the highest numbers of jobs in the future,” Kihn said, noting employers can communicate directly with job seekers on the site.
Look, there are no sure-shot answers here. As a D.C. resident, this type of effort is sorely needed, and I’m curious about the results.
This week’s grants listings number: $52 billion.
One new state grant and otherwise largely stable. We’ll see if these federal deadlines get moved back.
Behind the paywall.
How to prepare for the money being all crazy, in a preview of my upcoming new resources for paid subscribers.