As the Broken Marketplace research depicts, the systems young people rely on to pursue opportunity—school, work, and everything in between—are deeply misaligned and ill-prepared for the economy of the future.
This research provides key insights to not just patch the old model, but to design a better marketplace that is built for more informed choices, accessible resources, lifelong learning, flexible pathways, and opportunity accessible to all.
That better marketplace should include:
AI-powered agents and other tech tools that can help young people navigate options with smarter guidance. These tools won’t replace counselors—they’ll extend their reach. By surfacing internships, training programs, and regionally relevant opportunities, we can meet students with the right guidance at the right time.
More relevant and actionable data about emerging opportunities, the value of different pathways and credentials, and labor-market disruptions—based on objective assessments and advanced prediction models—that power the next generation of tools and agents.
A sea change among our educational and credentialing entities to evolve from a learn-then-work model to a world of lifelong learning, hands-on skills, and fluid pathways across industries.
We don’t know exactly what the jobs of the future will be, but we do know the right scale for figuring them out. Regional marketplaces are where innovation, apprenticeship, startup activity, and workforce development can meet in real time. Think of them as live laboratories for the future economy—with real outcomes for real people. Regional hubs can combine startup accelerators, advanced manufacturing, and apprenticeship networks to train and absorb talent at the speed of innovation.
Social media now rivals—and often replaces—traditional guidance systems. In a better marketplace, social media must be healthier, with platforms promoting trusted content, elevating real career pathways, and supporting the mental health of youth and their families.
Apprenticeships must be reimagined as a modern, modular and prestigious tool for career discovery, not a fallback for the “non-college” track.
Credentialing systems become interoperable: stackable, portable, and meaningful across institutions, regions and employers.
AI systems that guide career decisions are transparent, accountable, and regionally embedded. These co-pilots must be trained with local labor market data and integrated with trusted human support.
AI hyper-scalers—including OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Meta—enable this future. Their platforms will shape the educational, employment, and identity landscapes of the next generation. That means opening up infrastructure for social good, building public APIs that can plug into regional opportunity networks, and supporting trusted local co-pilots—not just global models.
Together, these moves build more than a better marketplace. They build a working system for the economy ahead—a system where learning is lifelong, credentials are coherent, guidance is trusted, and opportunity is visible.
