Why structural barriers are costing us far more than we realize

Every day, headlines point to a tight labor market—millions of job openings and not enough people to fill them. But the real story is far more complex. While some sectors scramble to hire, millions of workers are still struggling to access stable, meaningful employment. It’s a contradiction that reveals a hard truth: our workforce systems are not designed to meet people where they are. And when systems fail to deliver opportunity equitably, everyone pays the price.

From a distance, it’s easy to blame this disconnect on individual choices or a shifting culture of work. But a closer look tells another story—one of childcare gaps, limited transit access, digital divides, and discriminatory practices. These systemic barriers don’t just shape whether someone can get a job—they determine whether they can even consider one.

When Barriers Become Walls

The workforce doesn’t exist in a vacuum. A job posting may be open, but if the bus route doesn’t reach the employer, or the shift schedule clashes with school pickup, the opportunity disappears before it starts. These are not minor inconveniences. They are defining constraints—especially for low-income workers, women, and communities of color.

People are “locked out” by structural issues. Workers aren’t choosing to sit on the sidelines; they’re facing systems that don’t support their participation. The problem isn’t a lack of ambition or work ethic. It’s a lack of systems built with real lives in mind. Affordable childcare, flexible scheduling, second-chance hiring, and reliable broadband access—these are not luxuries. They are prerequisites for participation. And yet, they’re often absent from the conversation about workforce development.

The Economic Impact of Exclusion

These barriers don’t just affect individuals—they impact entire communities and the economy at large. Recent analysis shows that racial and gender inequities in education, employment, and access have cost the U.S. economy trillions in lost GDP over the past two decades. When people are locked out of opportunity, productivity declines, employers struggle, and regions stagnate.

The message is clear: equity is not only a moral imperative—it’s an economic one. We cannot afford to think of equity as a separate initiative. It is central to our economic well-being. The cost of exclusion—whether through missed potential, lost income, or unmet labor needs—is too high to ignore.

The Limits of Traditional Training

Part of the disconnect stems from how workforce training is delivered. While skills development is critical, it can’t solve for everything. Many programs are designed in isolation, without addressing the real-life barriers that prevent people from enrolling or completing them.

The gap between available jobs and available talent is often misdiagnosed as a skills gap, when it’s also a systems gap. Childcare, transportation, mental health support, and housing stability are all workforce issues—even if they’re rarely treated as such. Training programs that don’t provide wraparound supports simply won’t reach the people who need them most.

Until these realities are embedded into how we design, fund, and deliver workforce programs, the outcomes will remain the same: some people succeed, but many are left behind. And the same patterns of inequity persist.

Rethinking Workforce Systems

Solving these problems requires a new approach—one that begins by acknowledging that opportunity is not equally distributed, and that workforce systems must reflect the full context of people’s lives. That means:

• Designing wraparound supports that make employment possible, not just training accessible
• Investing in infrastructure like public transit, broadband, and affordable childcare as workforce enablers
• Centering lived experience in the design of programs and policies
• Collaborating across sectors to co-design more inclusive systems

This is the work underway in the communities across our network. Local leaders are bringing together diverse, cross-sectoral stakeholders to co-create bold solutions that move beyond job training to tackle the full complexity of people’s lives.

A Shared Responsibility

The disconnect we see today isn’t just a policy issue or a business challenge. It’s a reflection of who our systems are built for—and who they consistently overlook. Rebuilding these systems requires more than tweaking programs or increasing funding. It requires a shift in mindset: from focusing on the individual worker to redesigning systems so they truly support all workers.

We know that when workers can access reliable care, safe transportation, and fair chances, they don’t just show up—they thrive. And when more people can thrive, businesses grow stronger, communities become more resilient, and the economy becomes more inclusive.

The good news is that we don’t have to wait for permission to start. Each of us has a role to play, and when we work in partnership—across sectors, regions, and lived experiences—we amplify our impact. If we want a workforce that can meet today’s challenges—and tomorrow’s opportunities—we need to start by removing the barriers that have kept too many on the margins for too long.

Want to learn more about how we’re addressing systemic barriers to workforce success?
Explore our strategy: https://nationalfund.org/what-we-do/address-systemic-barriers/