From Frontline to Future-Ready: Upskilling Young Adults for Tech Careers

Profound demographic and economic shifts are reshaping much of life in the United States. We’re experiencing both an aging and diversifying of our population, relentless economic uncertainty, and a swell of incoming talent saddled with anxiety about their financial futures—all against a backdrop of explosive growth and reverberations created by artificial intelligence (AI). And though few are immune to the impacts of these shifts, young adults on the front lines of the workforce are particularly vulnerable to the turbulence while also being uniquely well-positioned to lead us through it, if given the opportunity.

These trends are disrupting the labor market as we know it, often in unexpected ways. Industries from tech to finance are announcing sweeping layoffs as other areas experience not only growth but also labor shortages due to a lack of available skills to perform newly created jobs. Such moments of profound disruption frequently provide the space for profound opportunity. Large companies across the country employ an overwhelming number of young frontline workers. When given the right investment, training, and support, these young adults can redirect their personal economic mobility trajectories while providing their employers with the skilled and future-ready talent pool necessary to thrive during this tumultuous time. 

There is urgency in this moment—a widening gap between the skills needed for the jobs of the future and the skills of today’s workforce is causing disruptive job losses and job shortages. This brief outlines the current labor market needs, highlights emerging training models, and presents a business case for investing in young frontline workers as a means of adapting and strengthening amid the shifting landscape. Without intentional investments in upskilling these workers, employers miss the opportunity to develop an internal pipeline of tech-savvy talent that can help protect them from future disruption, and young workers lose out on critical opportunities to advance and achieve economic mobility. With an emphasis on retail employers, who collectively employ nearly one in four workers in the United States, this brief is designed to be widely applicable.

The Need for Upskilling Frontline Workers

Many young adults ages 16–24 work low-wage frontline jobs with limited career mobility and a high risk of automation-related layoffs. Retail, like many other industries with large numbers of frontline employees, is undergoing a rapid digital transformation. Technologies such as self-checkout, e-commerce, and AI-driven operations are reducing the need for entry-level roles. Tasks once performed manually, such as stocking, checkout, and inventory management, increasingly are being automated, eliminated, or redefined, as evidenced by the layoffs at large e-commerce companies such as Amazon.

Elsewhere in the market, rather than reducing or eliminating roles, there are some companies that face labor shortages and a widening gap between the skills the labor force has and those which are needed in a rapidly evolving economy. For example, demand is rising for skilled professionals in IT, data analytics, cybersecurity, and tech-adjacent roles like logistics tech, digital marketing, and AI-enabled operations. Warehousing is experiencing labor shortages, and companies are increasing automation efforts, – which require skilled labor to oversee. And adding to these challenges, one study estimates that the United States faces a projected shortage of more than 700,000 skilled and credentialed workers in high-paying fields. These competing trends create great pressure for employers to invest wisely in the evolution of their workforce structures, including deciding which roles to eliminate, increase, or create and how to staff those structures most efficiently.

Retail roles are often the first entry point to the workforce for young people. Indeed, over half of retail workers are under age 34, and many of the jobs they hold, such as cashier or stock clerk, are among the most vulnerable to AI replacement. In a 2022 report, BLS noted that demand for cashiers and first-line supervisors of retail sales workers, retail salespersons, and counter and rental clerks is projected to continue to decline through 2029. In this context, upskilling—improving skills or acquiring new ones—represents a critical opportunity. By investing in upskilling and credentialing in areas of high demand, retailers can transform high-turnover, low-engagement positions into career-sustaining roles while mitigating potential labor shortages in high-demand roles. On-the-job training can unlock untapped talent, satisfy the expectations of new generations of workers, and build a robust talent pipeline made up of already engaged and knowledgeable employees. Expanding access to upskilling opportunities, especially for young workers who have faced barriers, is not only a matter of fairness and access, but also critical to maintaining a full and productive labor market.

Pathways to High-Wage, High-Demand Tech Careers

Nationally, there is growing momentum toward skills-based hiring and alternative credential pathways. Employers are increasingly moving away from degree requirements and investing in upskilling models that deliver practical, job-ready competencies. To help fill critical tech roles, a growing number of short-term credential programs have emerged from the private sector in recent years. These high-quality, industry-recognized short-term programs offer learners the chance to gain in-demand tech skills without a traditional four-year degree. At the same time, many employers have started dropping degree requirements, placing greater emphasis on industry-recognized certifications and hands-on experience. Traditional higher education can be cost-prohibitive, leaving young workers burdened with debt and lacking the job-ready skills employers seek. In Colorado, a state experiencing one of the largest tech gaps in the nation, local employers have benefited from private-sector training programs providing emerging talent with in-demand skills for entry-level tech roles. Similar efforts are underway nationwide, often through boot camps, apprenticeships, and paid work-based learning. Such models are particularly effective for frontline youth workers who cannot afford to pause earning. By integrating training into employment, these models mitigate cost barriers and improve retention.

While short-term credentials can be a promising gateway to career advancement, recent research from Burning Glass Institute (BGI) and FSG suggests that successfully upskilling frontline retail employees into high-growth roles requires more than education—it also demands exposure and mindset shifts for employees and employers. According to the report, frontline workers often perceive advancement opportunities primarily in sales or management rather than in tech-related roles. For employers, embracing a skills-first approach and intentionally building advancement pathways for frontline workers may require a fundamental shift in mindset, reconsidering traditional assumptions about who is qualified for which roles and who is capable of acquiring new skills. As businesses and workers navigate the future of work, they must define what success looks like from the outset and proactively address barriers on both sides to ensure the long-term sustainability of upskilling efforts.

With changing demographic trends, targeted worker shortages, and a growing digital and automated economy, investing in the next generation of workers is a business imperative.  For these investments to yield meaningful returns, they must be coupled with parallel investments in human capital—particularly in frontline youth workers. Large employers have the scale and infrastructure to lead this shift. By transforming entry-level jobs into springboards for advancement, they can build a resilient, future-ready workforce while expanding opportunity for millions of young people.