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- How to explain LERs to your grandma (and others) & The latest jobs data saga explained
How to explain LERs to your grandma (and others) & The latest jobs data saga explained
⬇️ Inside this issue:
What the latest jobs data saga really means
Thania’s guide to explaining skills-based hiring to literally anyone (yes, even Grandma)
The Harvard Business School whitepaper to read this weekend
INTERESTING READS
⚡ The T3 Network’s midyear meeting shared how to create opportunity at the speed of skills.
📱 Good news, you can now add your ID to Apple Wallet.
🏡 The great shift to remote work has hit a new normal.
🌍 Generative Engine Optimization is changing the game. Some startups are betting on geo over SEO to drive demand.
LABOR DATA
The jobs report you’ve been quoting? Might be wrong.
If the monthly jobs report were America’s Fitbit, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) just admitted we’ve been counting extra steps 😬.
Economists expect that between April 2024 and March 2025, the U.S. actually added 475,000 to 900,000 fewer jobs than initially thought. That’s a pretty big oops, even for government math.
Normally, this process, called benchmarking, is an annual revision where the BLS realigns its monthly payroll employment estimates with more comprehensive counts from unemployment insurance tax records, compiled in the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. While typically routine, the revisions can sometimes meaningfully change our understanding of job growth.
But in today’s climate, even routine data housekeeping gets dragged into the political cage match. Case in point: former President Trump recently fired the BLS commissioner while claiming (without evidence) that the numbers were “rigged.” CNN explains why that’s not true. Earlier this summer, Trump also attacked July’s jobs report as a “fraud” before firing the commissioner—coverage here.
Why the big downgrade?
Several factors are likely behind the revisions:
Startup math gone sideways.
The so-called birth-death model, which estimates jobs created by new businesses, may have overestimated post-pandemic startups. Many of those new firms are smaller, shakier, and quicker to fold.Survey ghosting.
Employer response rates have dropped to 43% (down from 59% in 2019). Fewer replies = fuzzier estimates.Invisible workers.
Undocumented and asylum-seeking workers often don’t show up in the unemployment insurance tax data that underpins the revisions, even if they’re on payrolls.
Add it up, and last year’s labor market might not have been as strong as headlines suggested. If the high end of the revision holds, that’s about 75,000 fewer jobs per month than we thought. For context, July’s jobs report showed continued cooling—but nothing like a free fall.
Why it matters for leaders
On the surface, we’re not totally sure how this affects tomorrow’s hiring outlook. Unemployment rates are around 4.3% and yes employers are still hiring, but the Consumer Confidence Survey found that 20% of consumers said jobs were "hard to get," which is up from 18.9%.
Perception is powerful. If confidence in jobs data erodes, so does trust in the story we tell about the economy. For policymakers, that means trickier debates. For businesses, it means planning with a little more humility.
It’s worth remembering that revisions are not a sign of failure—they’re a feature. As one former BLS commissioner put it, they make the data more accurate over time. Here’s a deeper explainer on how the BLS process actually works.
👉 Takeaway: The labor market is still standing, but the floor isn’t as solid as we thought. Workforce leaders should maintain flexibility in their hiring and skills strategies, as even official scorekeepers need to occasionally revise their playbook.
COMMUNITY INSIGHTS
Learning from the front lines of LER implementation
SkillsFWD just released an updated FWD Thinking: From the Field brief, capturing early findings, insights, and challenges from real grantee-led projects across the country. These are the organizations shaping the LER ecosystem from the ground up—and their lessons are invaluable for anyone navigating the complexities of digital credentialing, data interoperability, and stakeholder alignment.
Inside the brief:
What’s working (and what’s not) in early LER implementation
How grantees are refining tech, partnerships, and user engagement
The role of career navigators, data-sharing frameworks, and trust-building
Insights to inform your own strategy—whether you’re building, funding, or aligning around LERs
COMMUNICATION
How to Explain LERs + Skills-Based Hiring to Your Grandma
Okay, hang with me.
When I tell people I work in the world of workforce innovation, I usually get the polite head nod. The “oh cool” response that really means I have no idea what you just said.
That’s when I pull out my grandma test: could I explain this at Thanksgiving dinner in a way that makes sense to someone who’s never used LinkedIn, let alone heard of a Learning and Employment Record (LER)?
Because here’s the thing: the future of hiring isn’t just for HR nerds and policy wonks. It affects everyone—from your cousin looking for their first job to your grandma trying to understand why her retirement home has a staffing shortage. If we can’t explain skills-based hiring to “normal” people, we’ve already lost the plot.
The Communication Cheat Sheet
So, here’s how I’d break it down depending on who’s across the table:
A 5-year-old
“Imagine you’re playing with Legos. Each Lego piece is like a skill you’ve learned—like sharing, coloring inside the lines, or riding a bike. When you put all your Legos together, you can show people what cool things you can build. That’s what LERs do: they show the pieces you’ve collected.”
Your friend at dinner
“Imagine if instead of only listing your jobs on a resume, you had a digital backpack of all the skills you’ve learned—like teamwork, coding, or running a bake sale. That backpack goes with you everywhere, so even if you never had the ‘right’ job title, people can still see what you can do. That’s what LERs are about.”
An HR manager
“Instead of sorting resumes by who went to what school, you’d have a searchable dashboard of candidates’ actual skills—verified and portable. Think less guessing from titles, more evidence from skills. The benefit? Less time wasted on mismatched candidates and more confidence that you’re hiring people who can hit the ground running.”
A startup CEO
“Skills-based hiring is like moving from VHS tapes to Netflix. You get way more data on people’s capabilities, and it updates in real-time. Faster, cheaper, and more fair than relying on pedigree alone. The upside for you? A leaner, more adaptable team that scales without all the guesswork.”
A director at a large corporation
“Remember how you track supply chains for products? This is a supply chain for talent. You’ll see where skills are coming from, where gaps exist, and how to fill them. Less turnover, more agility. The payoff? Smoother workforce planning, better retention, and less scrambling when business priorities shift.”
A hiring manager
“Instead of reading between the lines on someone’s resume, you get a clear menu of what they can actually do. Makes your job way easier, and you find better fits for your team. The bonus? You spend less time backfilling roles and more time actually leading a strong, capable team.”
Grandma (a baby boomer in her 70s-80s)
“Back in your day, people got jobs by showing up with a firm handshake and a list of places they’ve worked. Today, it’s harder. Resumes don’t always show what someone can really do. LERs are like a digital work scrapbook that proves people’s skills. Why should you care? Because it means your grandkids won’t be stuck in jobs they hate just because they didn’t go to a certain school. And for the nurses, caregivers, and workers you see every day, it helps make sure they’re actually skilled at what they do.”
Share this on social media to spread the word
Explaining this isn’t just about simplifying big ideas—it’s about inviting more people into the conversation. If everyone, from a child to a grandparent, can see themselves in the story, then these changes have a chance to take hold.
So next time someone asks what you do, share it simply, kindly, and in a way that connects. After all, the future of work grows stronger when we all understand it. Together, around the table.
 | Thania Guardino |
TECHNOLOGY
Your next best hire might be picked by an AI named Megan
If you're building a workforce around skills, your hiring process should reflect that too.
Mega HR is an end-to-end hiring platform built for the modern skills economy—where job titles matter less, and capabilities matter more. And at the center of it all? Megan, your AI hiring manager.
She’s not just scheduling interviews and sending reminders (though she does that too). Megan actually helps your team:
Screen for skills—not just résumés
Shortlist candidates based on what they can do
Automate repetitive admin, from follow-ups to calendar syncs
Summarize interviews with AI-generated insights
In a tight labor market, hiring faster isn’t the goal—hiring smarter is. Mega HR helps you focus on fit, skill, and long-term value, without drowning in admin.
LER VOCABULARY
Open Badge
noun
A type of digital credential that contains detailed, verifiable metadata about the skills or achievements it represents—such as the earner, issuer, criteria, evidence, and date earned. Open Badges follow a standardized format that makes them shareable across platforms and systems.
🧐 Thania’s translation: “It’s like a digital Girl Scout badge that everyone trusts. But with metadata and street cred. You earn it, share it, and show it off on places like your LinkedIn to be like, ‘Yeah, I do know project management. Here’s the proof.’”
☕ Robert’s take: “Open Badges make recognition more accessible, more personal, and more precise. They allow skills and competencies—no matter where or when they’re learned—to be verified, shared, and understood. In a skills-first economy, they’re essential for creating portable and trusted signals that connect people to opportunity.”
Improve your skill-based hiring vocabulary at Learn & Work Ecosystem Library.
KNOWLEDGE
What to read, watch, and listen to this weekend
📚 Read: Dismissed by Degrees by Harvard Business School
This whitepaper explores how “degree inflation” is reshaping the U.S. labor market—requiring four-year degrees for roles that once welcomed middle-skills workers—and why it’s undermining both competitiveness and economic mobility.
Hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, this 2024 roundtable brought together leaders like Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, SBA Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, Labor Acting Secretary Julie Su, and HUD Acting Secretary Adrianne Todman. Moderated by Julián Castro, the conversation spotlighted how federal agencies are shaping workforce development, career mobility, and opportunity for Latino communities nationwide.
STEM advocate Sally Kimangu—aka Africa’s STEM Queen—shares her mission to prepare youth for the jobs of the future, from robotics for 5-year-olds to AI boot camps for adults, all while creating 1,000 new jobs each year.
FOR FUN’SIES
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