We asked our WorkingNation Advisory Board to share their thoughts on the most important issues and challenges facing the workforce and the labor market in the coming year. Read their thoughts on The Future of Work 2023.

As we move into the new year, WorkingNation is taking this moment to examine where the country is at in its efforts to break down the barriers that many workers continue to face in finding and retaining family-sustaining work in an ever-changing workplace.

Since our founding in 2016, we’ve assembled a distinguished and respected panel of thought leaders in business, education, policy, and nonprofits to help keep us at the forefront of the conversation around solutions to these challenges in our labor market.

WorkingNation has invited the members of our Advisory Board to share their thoughts on the key issues that still need to be addressed in 2023 and beyond, and to offer up some examples of programs and policies that are working, or could work, in the coming months and year.

Here is a sampling of what they tell us.

“Both educators and employers are failing to meet the challenge of the moment: how to create a steady pipeline of workers required to keep the U.S. economy competitive and prospering.” – Joseph Fuller, professor of management practice and co-heard of the Managing the Future of Work Project at the Harvard Business School

“We are rapidly becoming a high-tech, high-touch society in which the American worker needs a new set of technical skills that up until now was optional. We must make the appropriate investments in our future workforce today or risk widening the divide tomorrow.” – John Hope Bryant, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Operation Hope

“Tens of millions across the world continue to face systemic barriers to even entering employment. Cracking the code on reducing hiring barriers in entry-level tech jobs, which are among the fastest-growing job roles globally, will also be an important piece of the puzzle.” – Mona Mourshed, executive director of Generation

“Flexible schedules and compensation arrangements, clear and open communications, well-designed and collaborative environments, and other adaptations can help employers recruit and retain not just essential workers who are older, but essential workers of all ages.” – Paul Irving, senior fellow at the Milken Institute

“By investing in real practice change through their recruitment strategies, leading companies are opening doors for diverse and underrepresented talent. The challenge now is ensuring that individuals can gain the skills that employers need while creating a seamless journey from training to employment.” – Gerald Chertavian, founder and CEO of Year Up

You can read their full reflections, and those of other members of our Advisory Board in our special The Future of Work 2023 series here. Check back in the coming weeks as we add more articles to the series.

Over these past six years, WorkingNation has been on a mission to create and distribute powerful stories about the nation’s current and future state of work that educates, inspires, and connects people, thereby driving decision makers to scale solutions that can produce and sustain a thriving workforce.

We emphatically recommit to that mission in 2023.

“WorkingNation content will continue to reflect and advance the conversations around important workforce topics, including skills-based hiring, upskilling to fill jobs in in-demand industries, people with disabilities in the workforce, expanding inclusive hiring for underrepresented groups, and more,” pledges our founder and CEO Art Bilger.