From recent graduates entering the workforce for the first time to experienced professionals seeking new employment, local government plays in an important role in helping residents maintain employment while navigating a rapidly changing workforce ecosystem.
Many recent graduates are struggling to land a job as openings are becoming more competitive. Unemployment rates among recent graduates are continuing to rise. Between April 2022 to April 2025, unemployment rates amongst recent graduates ages 22-27 have increased from 3.9 to 5.8 percent. Workers often face a wide array of additional barriers as they navigate the job market such as lacking prerequisite training or qualifications, lack of access to affordable child care, higher cost of living near job opportunities and limited transportation options.
Offering support services to job seekers can help to minimize the multitude of hurdles that they may face. That’s why cities participating in NLC’s Southern Cities Economic Initiative (SCEI), a collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, are investing in supportive programs to expand workforce opportunities.
As cities strive to build robust workforce development programs that foster economic opportunity for all, here are three things they can consider to minimize barriers to workforce success:
1. Support Youth Workforce Opportunities
Through their participation in SCEI, Atlanta, GA and Center Point, AL are creating programs through which youth begin building work experience through workforce training and apprenticeship opportunities.
Creating chances for young people to get an early start exploring career pathways, building job experience and gaining career readiness training can help set them up for success. Municipalities can provide means for young people to get hands-on job experience, explore different fields of interest, get paired with mentors and strengthen their motivation to complete their degrees and training to establish careers in their desired field. These early work experiences can also help young people build financial capability and achieve upward mobility.
Forming youth training and apprenticeship programs in partnership with high schools, community colleges, youth-serving community groups and local businesses can be a winning strategy. Investing in the success of local small businesses can also help them hire, train and mentor youth. In turn, creating local economic opportunities creates a strong pathway to reducing brain drain.
2. Invest in Child Care Programs
Charlottesville, VA and Jacksonville, FL’s SCEI projects are focused on growing the local child care workforce to create job opportunities and make child care more accessible for working parents.
Lack of access to child care options can limit parents’ ability to fully participate in the workforce or seek additional training needed to advance in their careers. Unstable or inaccessible child care is particularly limiting for single parents and women as they disproportionately assume domestic child care responsibilities.
When child care workers have access to a livable wage, career growth opportunities and navigable training and licensing requirements, they are better positioned to help the rest of the workforce flourish. Cites can support the child care workforce by investing in financial assistance for child care businesses and paid apprenticeship programs for aspiring professionals, offering financial literacy training to child care business owners, streamlining licensing and certification requirements and updating zoning ordinances to minimize barriers for opening new child care businesses while maintaining safety standards.
3. Improve Transportation Options
Sunflower, MS and Drew, MS are working together to strengthen youth workforce mentorship opportunities through SCEI. For these Mississippi Delta communities, creating workforce opportunities for young people requires building transportation access to get them to employment options.
As with child care, improved transportation networks both support the overall workforce ecosystem and create jobs directly (PDF). Access to reliable transportation is positively associated with economic mobility: having an efficient way to go to work makes it easier to get and hold a job. However, many Americans do not have access to reliable public transportation options, nor do low-income Americans consistently have access to personal vehicles.
Those seeking education and training are no exception: while the vast majority of community college students live off campus, only 57 percent of main campuses at community colleges have a transit stop within walking distance.
Improving public transit options as well as pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure can help create a holistically safe, accessible and reliable transportation system for those who cannot take a private vehicle to school or work. There is no singular “right way” to build transit and mobility options in every community; each community can explore the appropriate balance of investments in public transportation, pedestrian infrastructure, micromobility options and other community needs.
As cities consider transportation infrastructure priorities, ensuring that there are reliable transportation options to connect affordable housing to job opportunities is an essential strategy for workforce success. A Green and Complete Streets approach can help achieve a resilient and accessible transportation system. Public transportation options aren’t only viable in urban areas — many rural areas are adopting non-fixed route and microtransit options through regional collaboration, for example.
Beyond these three areas of focus, collecting good data, both from residents about their workforce support needs as well as to evaluate the impact of municipal initiatives, can help cities maximize the success of their workforce development programs.
Southern Success Stories
Learn more about NLC’s Southern Cities Economic Initiative and how it is helping cities of all sizes in the Southeast create economic opportunity and thriving communities.
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