October 21, 2026
For communities trying to connect more residents to good jobs, skills training is often treated as the solution. But effective workforce development starts with understanding not only who is disconnected from work and why, but also what barriers prevent them from participating in training in the first place.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been examining those questions through the federal Recompete Pilot Program which is designed to help economically distressed communities close employment gaps among adults ages 25–54. After receiving a strategy-development grant, the city set out to better understand the obstacles facing residents in several South and East Chattanooga neighborhoods and what it would take to connect more of these residents to quality jobs.
A new report from the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research identifies approximately 5,100 residents in 14 census tracts as potential candidates for workforce training, representing nearly one-third of prime-age adults in the study area. Potential trainees have at least a high school diploma or GED, live below 300 percent of the federal poverty level, and are either unemployed and not in school or employed but earning less than $35,000 annually.
To produce neighborhood-level estimates, researchers Kathleen Bolter, Gerrit Anderson, and Kyle Huisman use an innovative raking methodology that combines detailed Census microdata with tract-level population counts, allowing them to uncover patterns that standard published data cannot show on their own.
The results reveal significant economic disconnection. About one-third of the potential training population works full time throughout the year, compared to about two-thirds of prime-age residents elsewhere in Chattanooga. Two in five live in households earning less than $25,000.
The results also show why understanding this population requires looking beyond employment and education. About one in five potential trainees has a child younger than 5, nearly 18 percent report a disability, and 16 percent lack access to a vehicle. Single mothers make up 15 percent of the group, roughly three times the rate elsewhere in the city and county.
Transportation is one example of how these barriers can undermine training and eventually employment. A service area analysis was performed by running different travel scenarios to training centers on the local bus system. Nearly one-third of the 73 training centers examined are inaccessible, or accessible from only a small portion of the study area. Two major areas with a large concentration of jobs also remain difficult to reach. This inaccessibility is exacerbated for people with disabilities.
The primary barriers identified also differ by neighborhood. While some areas face greater workforce disconnection, disability, and transportation challenges, others have greater needs related to child care, health care coverage, English-language access, or underemployment. The report points toward neighborhood-specific approaches that pair skills training with supports such as child care, health care navigation, and transportation assistance.
Chattanooga’s experience carries the broader lesson that understanding the barriers residents face is necessary to design workforce programs that give residents a real chance to participate and succeed.
Experts
