Approximately 3.6 million young Americans ages 18-24 are raising children, and another 900,000 in the same age range are non-custodial parents. Even before, the COVID-19 pandemic, many young parents faced significant challenges in balancing their jobs and childrearing responsibilities in efforts to build additional skills and advance in their careers.
Policymakers and workforce need to ensure skill-building policies are intentionally inclusive of the young parent population and can help to ensure a level playing field for all of America’s workers, regardless of their age or parental status. These skill-building efforts are especially important for young parents, because their early embrace of parenthood often means their families are more economically fragile.
Young Parents and Workforce Development in a Post-Pandemic World offers how and why workforce policies will affect and matter to young parents, while adding the three major touchstones policymakers and skills advocates should keep in mind when developing new policies.
