America is running out of workers and time. The baby boomers are retiring, birth rates are collapsing, and colleges are struggling to prove their value. In the middle of that chaos, a new movement is forming built on skills, not degrees.
In this episode of The American Dream Factory, hosts Nick Smoot and Joseph Toney talk with Josh Wright, Head of Growth and Partnerships at Lightcast, one of the world’s top labor market data firms. Together they explore a defining question for America’s next chapter: can the nation rebuild its workforce fast enough to handle the coming labor storm?
Josh, a former journalist turned data storyteller, shares insights from Lightcast’s Rising Storm report, revealing how demographics, education gaps, and untapped human potential are reshaping the labor market. The conversation moves from workforce data to civic purpose, showing how cities, schools, and employers can realign around skills and human creativity instead of outdated systems.
This is more than an economic discussion. It is a moral one about how we value people, purpose, and contribution in the next American century.
The Great Workforce Reckoning
Baby boomers are aging out while the next generation is smaller and slower to engage. Labor shortages are hitting manufacturing, healthcare, trades, and public works hardest. America’s talent pool is shrinking, and the gap between open roles and available skills is growing.
Degrees Are Losing Their Power
A four-year degree no longer guarantees opportunity. Employers are shifting toward skills-based hiring, yet systems for verifying skills are still forming. Parents remain one of the biggest barriers, pushing children toward traditional degrees even as the trades and new credentials gain traction.
Data as Civic Infrastructure
Lightcast’s 34,000-skill taxonomy shows which abilities matter most right now and where. When data flows between educators, employers, and governments, cities thrive. Without shared data, everyone is guessing and losing.
The Hidden Workforce
Millions of Americans already have valuable but invisible skills. Unlocking that hidden capacity can fill jobs, drive innovation, and rebuild civic pride. Cities that activate this potential will outcompete those that do not.
The Moral Imperative of Work
Work is not only about money. It is about meaning, belonging, and participation. The Skills Revolution is the path to restoring human purpose in an automated world.
The Demographic Drought series and its warning for U.S. labor markets
The decline of degree-based hiring and rise of digital credentials
How cities can use data to align workforce pipelines
Immigration’s impact on the workforce crisis
The role of parents, perception, and pride in shaping the next generation of workers
Real examples from Greensboro, North Carolina and Fargo, North Dakota showing how data builds resilient cities
“You cannot separate skills from the individual, their learning, and their lived experience.” — Josh Wright
“The data does not solve the problem. People do. But the right data helps people take better action.” — Josh Wright
“There is a missing dataset, the skills people already have but no one can see. That is the next frontier for cities.” — Nick Smoot
Lightcast — Global leader in workforce and labor market data
The Rising Storm report — Insights on the demographic labor crisis
Guest: Josh Wright, Head of Growth and Partnerships, Lightcast
Hosts: Nick Smoot and Joseph Toney
Learn more at AmericanDreamFactory.com or email nick@americandreamfactory.com
