Rachel Lipson | Team Profile
Updated: Oct 5
Rachel Lipson is a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Reimagining the Economy project and Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, and co-founder of the Harvard Project on Workforce. She is also a Resident Scholar at the Aspen Institute’s Economic Strategy Group and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings Metro.
Rachel’s current research focuses on a new generation of technical jobs, many fueled by AI and other emerging technologies, that do not require a four-year degree. She also studies how education, labor market institutions, and public policy can adapt to technological disruption and help workers through economic transitions. Her new book, The New American Frontier: Job Training for the Next Technological Age, will be released by Harvard Education Press in November 2026.
From 2023 to 2025, Rachel served as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s CHIPS Program Office, where she helped launch the workforce strategy for the $50 billion federal investment to revitalize domestic semiconductor manufacturing.
Prior to joining the federal government, Rachel served as the inaugural director of the Project on Workforce at Harvard. Over the course of her four-year tenure, she grew the Project from a brand-new startup to a thriving community at the university and a leading source of practitioner-facing research in the field.
Rachel is the co-editor of America’s Hidden Economic Engines: How Community Colleges Can Drive Shared Prosperity (Harvard Education Press 2023), which has helped catalyze community college reform efforts nationwide. Her writing has appeared in The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and The Hill, and her research has been featured by C-SPAN, NPR, Bloomberg, The Economist, and CNBC.
Rachel has held economic policy roles across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, including at the World Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Obama for America, Year Up, and Mexico’s Ministry of Communications. She is currently an Expert Advisor to Goodman Philanthropies, an advisor to the Policy Lab at RAISE US, a member of the Social Finance Institute’s Advisory Council, and a member of the Advisory Board of MDRC’s Center for Effective Career and Technical Education. Previously, she served on a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine task force on the STEM workforce and as a Futures Fellow at Stanford University’s Center on Longevity.
Rachel graduated magna cum laude in Government from Harvard College and holds an MBA and MPP from Harvard Business School and Harvard Kennedy School. She is a recipient of the Frederick Fischer Prize, the Harvard Certificate of Distinction and Excellence in Teaching, a Harvard Business School Leadership Fellowship, and the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize. Rachel started her career in public service as the student representative to the Clarkstown Central School District Board of Education.
CONTENTS
Selected Research & Projects
Lipson explores a new generation of technical jobs that do not require a four-year degree and the education and training systems needed to prepare workers for them. Drawing on U.S. regions at the forefront of emerging technologies, the book examines how leaders can align workforce investments with strategic industries and expand access to good jobs. Harvard Education Press, November 2026.
Rachel Lipson and Allison Schwartz examine why traditional labor market data often misses jobs created by emerging technologies. The analysis identifies gaps in industry and occupational classifications and offers practical strategies to help policymakers and educators better understand workforce needs in new industries. Brookings, September 2026.
Lipson examines the potential effects of AI on entry-level work and draws lessons from past economic shocks to identify policies that can support young workers. The report offers a policy framework for strengthening access to early-career opportunities amid technological change. IE Center for the Governance of Change, July 2026.
At a time of rising geopolitical competition and massive investment in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), boosting U.S. productivity has reemerged as an urgent priority. Yet federally-funded workforce development—one of the key levers for long-run productivity growth—remains mostly relegated to reactive anti-poverty policy rather than a forward-looking economic strategy. As the U.S. charts a long-term path towards technological leadership and supply chain resilience, the country faces a generational opportunity to build a national talent investment strategy that meets the potential of the AI economy. Drawing on the workforce needs for emerging technology jobs, this paper proposes an alternative model for public investment in workforce development: treating human capital like research and development (R&D). Such a model would prioritize critical sectors with good-paying jobs that do not require a four-year degree and that are essential to deploying new technologies. Applying an R&D lens would also help close the “valley of death” between promising pilots and scaled solutions, while striking a better balance between experimentation and evidence. If embraced, this vision could not only enhance national competitiveness, but also expand opportunity for Americans historically left out of the innovation economy.
The Options Multiplier: Decoding the CareerWise Youth Apprentice Journey | Research Report
This research uses a novel dataset from CareerWise Colorado, one of the U.S.'s most widely cited youth apprenticeship models. During the program, CareerWise students split their time between a traditional classroom and the workplace, allowing apprentices to earn a wage, while accessing meaningful work experience and debt-free college credits. Our research analyzes the outcomes from CareerWise Colorado's first two cohorts (2017-2018). We find that nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of CareerWise apprentices achieve the program’s stated goal of serving as an “Options Multiplier”- they transition on to postsecondary education, employment, or both. Supportive supervisors, job match, industry type, and Registered Apprenticeship status all have a significant impact on retention and completion. Better understanding these factors means that employers can structure programs that lead to apprentice success, teaching students the skills they need for a good job and generating a high return on investment for employers.
In America’s Hidden Economic Engines, editors Robert B. Schwartz and Rachel Lipson spotlight community colleges as institutions uniquely equipped to foster more equitable economic growth across America’s regions. As Schwartz and Lipson show, these colleges are the best-placed institutions to reverse the decades-long rise in US economic inequality by race, class, and geography.
Navigating Public Job Training | Research Report
This report describes and analyzes the more than 75,000 “Eligible Training Provider” (ETP) programs in the United States. ETP programs are job training programs deemed eligible for funding under America’s primary federal workforce development law, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Among other functions, WIOA funds vouchers for unemployed or underemployed workers to enroll in job training services. The vouchers are typically used to support enrollment in short-term, non-four-year-degree programs that connect to "in-demand employment” opportunities in a regional economy. Under the law, each state and territory must maintain a list of pre-approved programs that eligible individuals may select from. The programs on these lists (commonly known as “eligible training provider lists” – ETPLs) comprise our primary unit of analysis.
Selected Media
Career Prep When No One Knows What’s Next | Inside Higher Ed
Lipson discusses how colleges can prepare students for an uncertain labor market through employer partnerships, professional networks, and training connected to emerging opportunities. September 29, 2026.
Lipson discusses the technical jobs emerging from AI infrastructure investment and the need to prepare workers for these opportunities. September 26, 2026.
No-Regrets Bets | Work Shift
Paul Fain covers Lipson’s research on early-career opportunities in the age of AI and policies to strengthen connections between education and work. August 20, 2026.
On Revelio Labs’ The Economics of Work, Lipson joins Ben Zweig to discuss workforce policy, community colleges, employer partnerships, and lessons from CHIPS for America. June 18, 2026.
Viewpoint: Virginia’s new governor should reshape workforce training as AI disrupts jobs market | Op-Ed
Anne Kress and Rachel Lipson argue for stronger investment in community colleges and workforce training as AI changes employment. Washington Business Journal, January 27, 2026.
