Ben Wildavsky is a veteran higher education strategist and writer, and host of the Higher Ed Spotlight podcast. He brings decades of experience in journalism and education policy, including leadership roles at Strada Education Network, the College Board, and US News & World Report . He is the author of The Career Arts: Making the Most of College, Credentials, and Connections and an award-winning expert on education-to-workforce initiatives. In this episode of Hardly Working we explore the Ge...
Jan 09, 2025•50 min•Ep. 129
Robert Lerman is a research fellow at the Urban Institute and the co-founder of Apprenticeships for America, where he is dedicated to expanding opportunities for lifelong learning and ensuring that apprenticeships are a cornerstone of America’s educational landscape. Through his prolific research and advocacy, we examine the role of apprenticeships in our economy, successful policy examples in Europe, and the impact of AI and technological changes. Mentioned in the episode: Apprenticeships for A...
Dec 19, 2024•46 min•Ep. 128
Stuart Andreason is the Executive Director of Programs at the Burning Glass Institute where he leads efforts in research and engagement on workforce innovation, higher education, and economic mobility. Through his personal experience and his work in skills-based hiring, we look at vocation in career, skills signals, and role of technology in the hiring process. Mentioned in the episode: Burning Glass Institute Skills-Based Hiring: The Long Road from Pronouncements to Practice How Advanced Data S...
Dec 05, 2024•53 min•Ep. 127
Kerry McKittrick, in her work as co-director of The Project on Workforce at Harvard, looks into different aspects of the relationship between workforce development and careers. In this episode of Hardly Working, we dive into three different reports that McKittrick has authored recently. Mentioned in the episode: The College-to-Jobs Initiative: Exploring the intersection of higher education and the workforce College-to-Jobs Map Unlocking Economic Prosperity: Career Navigation in a Time of Rapid C...
Oct 31, 2024•47 min•Ep. 126
Description : This week on Hardly Working, Brent Orrell talks with David Hernandez, Vice President of Education at IPC, the Global Association for Electronics Manufacturing. Brent and David discuss domestic electronics manufacturing, workforce education and training, and the global supply chain. Mentioned During the Show : IPC International, Inc. The CHIPS and Science Act...
Oct 17, 2024•46 min•Ep. 125
On July 22, Brent Orrell from AEI and Tony Pipa from Brookings hosted a discussion about Casa Grande Valley Farms, an agricultural cooperative from the New Deal era that faced challenges and eventually failed. AEI's Kevin R. Kosar, who has republished a book on the project, joined the conversation to discuss the lessons this historical case offers for modern federal rural economic development, especially in the context of recent legislative investments like the CHIPS and Science Act. Mentioned i...
Aug 22, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 124
Russ Roberts, President of Shalem College in Jerusalem and host of the Econtalk podcast, discusses his book, “Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions That Define Us. The book discusses Robert’s approach to problems that can’t be solved with normal economics analysis. In this episode, Brent and Russ also discuss the influences Russ had growing up and the advice he has for young people today. Mentioned in the Episode Wild Problems by Russ Roberts Shalem College in Jerusalem It’s a Wonderful Loaf P...
Aug 08, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 123
On July 8, AEI’s Brent Orrell hosted the fifth event in the “On the Front Porch” series with the Brookings Institution’s Tony Pipa featuring Stanford University Professor Keith Humphreys and AEI’s Sally Satel, two experts in opioid treatment and the societal effects of drug abuse in rural areas. They discuss the factors that led to the opioid crisis and the challenges in resolving it. Mentioned in the Episode Tony Pipa (Brookings) Keith Humphreys (Stanford) Sally Satel (AEI) Pavlovian conditioni...
Jul 18, 2024•56 min•Ep. 122
This week on Hardly Working, Brent Orrell talks with AEI Senior Fellow Brad Wilcox. Wilcox’s recent book Get Married: Why Americans Should Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families and Save Civilization explores the importance of marriage in society. Brent and Wilcox discuss how marriage promotes healthy families and why declines in marriage rates are so alarming. They also touch on how marriage and family structure impact the workforce and explore the particular challenges facing young men, such a...
Jun 27, 2024•52 min•Ep. 121
Americans are grappling with the complexities of economic growth, technology, and their impacts on society. This week, Brent talks with Oxford University economist Daniel Susskind, who explores these themes in his latest book Growth: A Reckoning . Together, Brent and Susskind discuss the historical context of growth, the role of technological advancements, and Susskind’s views on the need for policies that better align economic incentives with social values. Mentioned in this Episode Tax treatme...
Jun 13, 2024•45 min•Ep. 120
Americans’ views on the economy have soured in recent years, often seemingly disconnected with the realities of work and growth in incomes. One particularly pernicious meme, found on both the left and the right, is that economic growth has not translated into higher wages for American workers. This week on Hardly Working , Brent sits down with Scott Winship, who dispels this myth in his recent report , “Understanding Trends in Worker Pay over the Past 50 Years.” Brent and Scott discuss the chang...
May 30, 2024•47 min•Ep. 119
In a world where the traditional boundaries of work are being redrawn, the interplay between work and personal satisfaction, a sense of purpose, and meaning is rapidly evolving. This week on Hardly Working, Brent sits down with John Tamny , editor of RealClearMarkets and president of the Parkview Institute . They discuss Tamny’s 2018 book The End of Work: Why Your Passion Can Become Your Job , which envisions a world where material abundance frees all of us up to pursue our passions at work....
May 16, 2024•46 min•Ep. 118
Contemporary differences between rural and urban areas in America have their roots in long-term demographic, economic, technological, and social factors. Brent and the Brookings Institution’s Tony Pipa are hosting conversations “On the Front Porch” with authors of recent research on issues facing rural America. These discussions explore the unique challenges and opportunities facing rural America and consider policy options to promote development and opportunity. Today, we bring you a recent con...
Apr 11, 2024•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 117
As technology marches on, what kind of world are we moving towards? According to AEI senior fellow Jim Pethokoukis , it’s an abundant and prosperous one, at least potentially. So long as we play our cards right–and embrace what he calls an “UpWing” technology and growth policies we will reap the benefits of what many find to be destabilizing, disorienting change. This week on Hardly Working, Brent speaks with Pethokoukis about his book The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We...
Mar 28, 2024•57 min•Ep. 116
In a world of specialists, generalists sometimes seem like people without a country. That may be changing. In an age of specialized–and increasingly powerful– AI tools, going broad rather than narrow may increasingly be valuable. Today on Hardly Working, Vikram Mansharamani returns to the podcast to discuss his personal and professional journey as a self-described generalist. His recent memoir The Making of a Generalist narrates his journey from a kid curious about everything to one of the natio...
Mar 14, 2024•47 min•Ep. 115
Divides between rural and urban America have their roots in longstanding demographic, economic, technological, and social factors. In a new event series, AEI’s Brent Orrell and the Brookings Institution’s Tony Pipa are hosting a series of conversations “On the Front Porch” with authors of recent research on issues facing rural America. These discussions explore the unique challenges and opportunities facing rural America and consider policy options to promote development and opportunity. Today o...
Feb 23, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 114
In recent years, confidence in higher education has plummeted. This decline has prompted a vigorous debate on the role of all types of post-secondary education. In their recent book America’s Hidden Economic Engines: How Community Colleges Can Drive Shared Prosperity , Robert B. Schwartz and Rachel Lipson make the case for the value of community colleges. Surveying five case studies across the US–in Ohio, Virginia, Arizona, Texas, and Mississippi–they argue that community colleges serve as “engi...
Feb 08, 2024•57 min•Ep. 113
As artificial intelligence (AI) bounds ahead, many are rightfully concerned about the risks and ethical issues it raises. Perhaps some of the most practical of these is the potential that AI will be biased against minority populations because of deficiencies in the data used to build it. If true, this would have serious implications for human resources and hiring. Today, Brent sits down with Keith Sonderling , a commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC. Sonderling del...
Jan 25, 2024•49 min•Ep. 112
Many urban Americans have come to believe that there’s a growing chasm separating urban and rural America. While urban America bounds ahead, rural America, many assume, is being left behind, struggling with material and spiritual impoverishment, and cultural confusion. This week on Hardly Working , Brent talks with University of Southern California professor Elizabeth Currid-Halkett , who dispels some of the myths about the so-called urban-rural divide. Currid-Halkett and Brent discuss her fanta...
Jan 11, 2024•53 min•Ep. 111
Regrettably, the debate about post-secondary education has devolved into just another culture war issue with one camp saying “everyone go to college” and another saying “skip college learn a trade.” Today, Brent sits down with Ben Wildavsky , a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia’s School of Education and Human Development, who challenges this false dichotomy. In his recent book “ The Career Arts ,” Wildavsky argues that education, job, and career success require integrating broad-bas...
Dec 14, 2023•59 min•Ep. 110
Artificial intelligence (AI) is advancing at breakneck speed. Michael Chui , a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), leads research on how this technology is reshaping business, the economy, and society more broadly. According to MGI, the next wave of AI-generated productivity improvements will send shockwaves through the labor market as it reaches–and surpasses–human-level ability across a wide range of skills but ultimately make the entire world wealthier and healthier. We hope you e...
Nov 30, 2023•43 min•Ep. 109
Today, we continue to explore Appalachia with Chris Stirewalt , a senior fellow at AEI. Stirewalt, who grew up in Wheeling, West Virginia, speaks to Brent about the unique culture and values of Appalachia, the role that strong families and institutions play in the region’s success, and potential solutions to the region’s challenges, from its opioid epidemic to educational “brain drain.” He also takes us through much of the history of the region, offering deep insight into the region’s identity. ...
Nov 09, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 108
The media has told us a very straightforward, and depressing, story about Appalachia: it is a region that is being left behind as the rest of the U.S. economy chugs on; it’s a destitute, hopeless place without good jobs, and filled with communities in decline. In his recent report on the region, Aaron M. Renn , a senior fellow at American Reformer , a Protestant nonprofit, complicates this picture. Appalachia, Renn shows, is no monolith (it consists of a diversity of areas with their challenges ...
Oct 26, 2023•53 min•Ep. 107
In cities across America, homelessness, poverty, crime, addiction, and mental illness are perennial, and deeply intertwined, problems. The New York City-based Doe Fund , however, has made real progress on these challenges. Emphasizing work and personal responsibility, the fund has served struggling and at-risk individuals for nearly 40 years. In this episode, Brent sits down with the Doe Fund’s outgoing President and CEO, Harriet McDonald , and its incoming leader, Jennifer Mitchell . They discu...
Oct 12, 2023•52 min•Ep. 106
From tech companies to healthcare providers and fast food services, organizations are deploying AI technologies to boost productivity and improve service. As these technologies filter into the economy and workplace, a host of questions are arising: will AI replace human labor? How will new technology affect the nature of work? How can we equip workers for the future and help them adapt to change? In their recent book Working with AI: Real Stories of Human-Machine Collaboration , management and t...
Sep 28, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 105
From Elizabeth Warren to former president Trump, actors on both the political left and right show increasing willingness to expand the role of government in the country’s economic affairs. Skepticism of free markets, long confined to the left, is now in vogue across the political spectrum, fueling a renewed interest in industrial policy and trade protectionism. Samuel Gregg , a distinguished fellow in political economy at the American Institute for Economic Research and an Affiliate Scholar at t...
Sep 14, 2023•45 min•Ep. 104
As AI permeates our world, many are forecasting transformational impacts on work and the economy. With AI, the future is highly uncertain, but it's imperative that we prepare workers to the best of our ability today. In this episode, we bring you a live event with Brent and Shane Tews , a nonresident senior fellow at AEI and head of AEI’s Tech Policy Center, on the intersection of AI, skills, and the workforce. Here, Brent and Shane speak to AEI’s 2023 Summer Honors students and offer advice on ...
Aug 31, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 103
In this episode, we invite you to listen in on a recent AEI event on the book System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot (Harper Academic, 2021). On June 22, 2023, AEI’s Brent Orrell and Shane Tews were joined by Rob Reich of the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence and Jeremy M. Weinstein of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies to discuss their book, which they co-authored along with their fellow Stanford professor Mehran Sahami. The...
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 102
In this episode, we invite you to listen in on a Workforce Futures Initiative (WFI) event from February 2023. WFI is a collaboration between the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, and the Harvard Kennedy School Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy that analyzes the latest research on various aspects of the workforce development system to inform policy at the federal, state, and local levels. In this event, Brent Orrell is joined by leading workforce experts Harry Holzer...
Aug 03, 2023•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 101
For our 100th episode, we look back at some favorite moments in our podcast's history. You'll hear clips from conversations about the future of work with Jamie Merisotis ; male worklessness with my colleague Nicholas Eberstadt ; happiness and civic engagement with my colleague Ryan Streeter ; thinking for yourself with author and Harvard lecturer Vikram Mansharamani ; and identifying talent with renowned economist Tyler Cowen . Whether you're a new member of our community or you've been with us ...
Jul 20, 2023•30 min•Ep. 100
