ASU+GSV: unify workforce data

Speakers at the ASU+GSV Summit said the United States should build one national data system for workforce programs instead of forcing colleges to report into scattered federal systems. (govtech.com) The discussion took place in San Diego during the April 13-15, 2026, summit, which organizers said drew about 7,000 entrepreneurs, investors, educators and workforce leaders. GovTech reported that panelists said overlapping federal reporting rules have piled up for years and now create extra administrative work for higher-education institutions. (web.cvent.com, govtech.com) The system they were describing is basic but consequential: one set of records that can follow a student from education into training and then into jobs and earnings. The U.S. Department of Education’s Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems program already funds state systems built around that idea, including “P-20W” models that connect early learning through the workforce. (nces.ed.gov) That model is uneven today because workforce data sits in multiple federal and state channels. The U.S. Department of Labor says Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act programs operate under separate statutes, final rules and guidance, including new state-plan modification guidance for program years 2026 and 2027. (dol.gov) Outside the workforce system, the federal government already publishes pieces of the outcome picture. The College Scorecard shows college costs, graduation rates and post-college earnings, while the Census Bureau’s Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes data links transcript records to a national jobs database to show earnings and employment by institution, degree level and major. (collegescorecard.ed.gov, census.gov) Workforce policy groups have been pushing for tighter integration ahead of the next rewrite of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. A July 2024 Results for America brief urged Congress and the Labor Department to expand access to federal and cross-state data, invest in statewide longitudinal systems that include workforce records, and simplify data-sharing tools for states. (results4america.org) That brief also pointed to one stubborn gap: people often cross state lines for work, but wage records do not move easily with them. It said the State Wage Interchange System exists for sharing unemployment-insurance wage data across states, but many agencies find it cumbersome and limited for anything beyond basic federal reporting. (results4america.org) The federal government has spent years trying to connect education and labor records without creating one national student unit-record system. The Labor Department’s Workforce Data Quality Initiative says its long-term goal is for states to use longitudinal systems to follow people through school and into work life, in partnership with education agencies. (dol.gov) States are moving at different speeds. New York says its Office of Workforce Data and Research is building a workforce-focused statewide longitudinal data system that connects workforce programs, labor-market information, social programs, education providers and employers in one cross-agency structure. (dol.ny.gov) At ASU+GSV, the immediate ask was narrower than a new law: start making the existing systems talk to each other. Until that happens, colleges, states and workforce agencies will keep stitching together outcome data from separate pipelines. (govtech.com)