The U.S. is experiencing a once-in-a-generation economic shift. I see it every day in my work at the Brooklyn Navy Yard: Artificial intelligence, automation and climate innovation are reshaping industries at lightning speed.

By 2030, it is expected that nearly 40% of core workplace skills will have shifted, and further research points to projected demand for workers in classically “blue collar” or non-college educated roles and an increased need for college graduates to have more practical work-experience, all underscoring the need to evolve how we prepare young people for future opportunities.

The results are visible in a persistent gap across the labor market. Three-quarters of employers nationwide report difficulty finding workers with the skills they need, and more than 40 states have had fewer workers available to fill open jobs every month since early 2024.

At the same time, millions of young people — disproportionately students of color and those from low-income communities — remain underemployed or shut out of opportunity altogether.

Unless we rethink how we prepare students for the workforce, the gap between good jobs and qualified workers will only widen, exacerbating inequities that have long defined our economy. It is time to create a new education model — one that integrates academics with hands-on, work-based learning that connects students directly to the careers of the future.

Academic learning alone isn’t enough

National student debt has ballooned to more than $1.7 trillion, and 40% of students who enroll in college don’t earn a degree or credential within eight years of graduating high school. Meanwhile, industries from advanced manufacturing to clean energy to biotech face critical shortages in skilled workers.

The disconnect is glaring: Demand is increasing for well-paying, entry level manufacturing jobs, but pathways to access these positions are few and far between as they require specialized training not traditionally included in our education system.

Without an increased focus on skilled training programs that prepare high school and post-secondary students for these roles, many of those positions risk going unfilled.

Work-based learning — internships, apprenticeships and cooperative education programs — improves both academic and career outcomes, from higher wages to career satisfaction. We need models that bring the private sector into the implementation and delivery of the education and training itself, and these models already exist.

The Brooklyn STEAM Center is a training hub shared by eight New York City public high schools, where juniors and seniors spend two years immersed in career and technical education alongside their academic studies. Students choose pathways in fields like computer science (video game design, cybersecurity), design and engineering (industrial design, manufacturing technology), culinary arts, or film and media. Their coursework is informed by an advisory council of subject matter experts and higher education partners.

By the time they graduate, students leave not only with an academic diploma but with technical skills, professional networks, college credits, and in many cases, and industry-recognized credentials that can launch them directly into college or career. The beauty of this model – it happens in tandem with the traditional education model.

The program is already showing strong results. Participants graduate at rates 10% higher than peers, with 100% engaged in work-based learning. Brooklyn STEAM scholars typically earn their diploma plus college credits and industry-recognized certifications—totaling over 2,200 professional certifications since 2017. Plus, the 2025 class outperformed the national index in 15 of 17 measures of 21st-century skills. Beyond the numbers, students gain confidence and resilience by learning alongside the 1,300-plus professionals working in the same building.

This integrated approach — where students are given direct exposure to industries and real work environments—illustrates bridging the gap between classroom learning and economic opportunity.

Public-private partnerships are essential

Building scalable pathways requires robust collaboration. Schools alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of preparing students for an evolving economy; employers, workforce boards and government must play a role. Public-private partnerships — when structured equitably — help ensure students gain theoretical knowledge and the real-world experience that employers value.

Look at the example of CareerWise Colorado, a youth apprenticeship program launched in partnership with local businesses, K-12 districts and higher education institutions. Students split time between classrooms and paid work, earning college credit while gaining industry-recognized credentials.

Its alumni overwhelmingly report positive career trajectories. A 2023 alumni survey reported that 88% of alumni secured jobs after program completion; remarkably, more than half continued their careers with the same employer where they apprenticed.

These models should not be the exception. They should be part of the educational paths offered to young people everywhere for jobs of the future. So many great school districts, administrators and dedicated educators are working the front lines to evolve and innovate our education system for the future.

We face a wide variety of challenges in our future – climate change, caring for an aging population, new technologies needed to support innovations that create more affordable housing – and the solutions to those challenges will not be “one size fits all.”

To prepare our future leaders and workers, we must equip our education and training institutions with the tools to foster broad skills and creative-problem, while ensuring diverse models of high-quality education are well resourced and effectively implemented.

A model for the future economy

What would one of these new models look like?

• Integration of learning and work. Every student should graduate with direct experience in a professional setting — whether through internships, apprenticeships or project-based collaborations with industry.

• Equity at the center. Programs must be designed to serve students historically excluded from opportunity, with wraparound supports like transportation and stipends to remove barriers to participation.

• Lifelong pathways. Education shouldn’t end at graduation. We need flexible, modular programs that allow workers to upskill and reskill throughout their careers as industries evolve for long-term economic mobility.

• Policy alignment. Federal and state governments must incentivize collaboration between education systems and employers, providing funding streams that make partnerships sustainable.

We already know what works; the challenge is scaling it. But America has reinvented its education system before to meet the demands of new eras, and we can do it again.

Failing to act will leave an entire generation unprepared for the jobs that define our future. It will deepen existing inequities in income and opportunity, particularly in communities of color, where barriers to entry are already steep but where creativity and innovation abound without the resources to grow. And it will undermine our nation’s competitiveness in the industries that are critical to long-term economic growth. By expanding pathways that blend classroom learning with real-world experience, we can ensure students are ready for the careers that will define the next economy.

This post was originally published on Next City.