Urban schools and the changing metropolitan labor market

Industrial change and the resultant restructuring of employment opportunity ongoing in the nation's largest cities are seriously weakening traditional ladders of urban social advancement. Jobs at the high end of the skill spectrum are growing far more rapidly in these cities than those held by persons lacking a high school degree. Education remains one of the most important policy levers for redressing the growing mismatch between available jobs and the skills of resident workers. The problem is compounded, however, because so many who lack essential skills are concentrated in the least prosperous cities in which entry-level jobs are in relative decline and resources with which to fund school improvements are in short supply. The upskilling of jobs must be met by the upschooling of the labor force. This objective will require a concerted effort to bring the public schools and institutions of higher education together into new forms of metropolitan partnership.