Employment and Workforce Development

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The Federal Reserve's Community Development function promotes economic growth and financial stability for low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities and individuals through a range of activities including convening stakeholders, conducting and sharing research, and identifying emerging issues. As households and communities contend with limited resources and persistent challenges, Community Development is focusing on the structural barriers to getting people back to work and restoring their financial stability.

Low-income and hard-to-employ individuals represent diverse segments of the population, each requiring unique policy considerations to assist with access to quality jobs. Historically, youth, less-educated, rural, and minority workers have been over-represented among the unemployed and have lower labor force participation rates. The Community Development staff also recognizes the unique challenges faced by hard-to-employ populations such as the disabled, the homeless, and ex-offenders.

Related Information

Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster (CLIFF)
A tool from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta that models the interaction of public benefits, taxes, and tax credits with wage progressions. The CLIFF suite currently includes three core tools, each tailored to meet a client's needs in different career stages.

Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity (CWEO)
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's CWEO focuses on employment policies and labor market issues that affect low- and moderate-income individuals. It acts as a bridge between research and practice, connecting researchers, businesses, and policymakers with innovative approaches to creating economic opportunity through education and employment. The center also contributes to economic research and monetary policy discussions by tracking labor market trends affecting low- and moderate-income workers.

CWEO's resources include:

Ask Us Anything is a series of facilitated discussions about work and the workforce.
The Federal Reserve Human Capital Compendium provides access to research published by the Board of Governors and all 12 Federal Reserve Banks on topics related to employment, unemployment, and workforce development.
Workforce Currents is a publication series that examines trends in the labor market and workforce development

Fed Listens

Institute for Economic Equity
The Institute for Economic Equity promotes a more equitable economy for households and communities in the Eighth Federal Reserve District and beyond.

Investing In America's Workforce
Investing in America's Workforce is a Federal Reserve System initiative in collaboration with the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, the Ray Marshall Center of the Lyndon B. Johnson School at the University of Texas, and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.

Opportunity Occupations Monitor
The Opportunity Occupations Monitor displays opportunity employment and its prevalence across labor markets. Opportunity employment is an estimate of the number and share of jobs accessible to workers without a bachelor's degree that pay more than the national median wage.