The Heldrich Center is pleased to share with you the first of the Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity’s Leading Workforce Resurgence series. The article, Can Lessons from the Great Recession Guide Policy Responses to the Pandemic-Driven Economic Crisis?, is by Jane Oates and Carl Van Horn. It explores the current pandemic and economic crisis and looks to lessons from recovery from the Great Recession for how we can collectively re-engage workers and recover today. By most measures, the COVID crisis is a greater challenge — looking back can help craft strategies for today.

Jane Oates is president of WorkingNation and former assistant secretary of the U.S. Employment and Training Administration from 2009 to 2013. Dr. Carl Van Horn is director of the Heldrich Center, distinguished professor of public policy at Rutgers University, and CWEO visiting scholar.