AI & Workforce Development – November 2025 Report
AI is changing the labor landscape. While U.S. tech leaders look to upskilling to improve employees’ gaps in important tech skills, previous cycles of labor disruption have shown that a sole focus on reskilling, retraining, and workforce development has been far from sufficient to address the impact of technology-induced shifts in the labor market.
AI & Workforce Development 2025 Report DownloadKey takeaways
Workforce training commitments alone are an insufficient response from tech companies and policymakers to the current and unfolding impact of emerging technology on workers.
Workforce development programs can be useful resources as jobs change, but they need to be paired with broader economic policies to ensure that tech’s evolution benefits everyone. Unless we take seriously the question of the power differential between employers and workers, any benefits of AI technology breakthroughs will continue to accrue to the rich and powerful.
We share examples and lessons from three main approaches to workforce development: tech industry commitments to AI upskilling; public policy approaches to AI and labor; and labor union-led efforts in training and worker protection. These examples lead us to three significant conclusions regarding the AI-related workforce development initiatives that have been announced in the last three years.
- First, industry-led initiatives and, to a lesser extent, public policy initiatives, rarely design training programs based on what workers want and typically do not include mechanisms to integrate worker voice into program development.
- Second, absent the leverage of worker power through collectively bargained agreements or community benefits agreements, industry commitments are typically vague and highly opaque—both before programs are started and after they are completed. There is little data to be found on the outcomes of corporate training programs, whereas there are numerous studies that have produced robust evidence on publicly-funded programs.
- Third, programs to ensure that the skills of the labor force match the job market are only one small piece of the picture when policymakers are considering how to ensure that working people are protected as technology develops. Policymakers need to think expansively to develop a robust policy response to ensure that workers are protected from harm and that the benefits of technology are equitably distributed.
Our recommendations for the future:
- Center workers in developing solutions.
- Hold companies accountable for the funds they’ve committed to address AI education and training.
- Think expansively about a robust policy response—everything from increasing worker power and the right to collective bargaining to expanding a durable and sustainable social safety net to addressing the use of fissuring and related labor arrangements, and more, needs to be on the table—rather than an overemphasis on AI skills training.
Download the paper below. Want to learn more about how tech is impacting workers? Check out our labor page for more resources.
AI & Workforce Development
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