People are trying to adapt to a labor market that no longer moves in a straight line. Artificial intelligence could reshape more than half of U.S. jobs in just the next two years, entry-level jobs are becoming harder to find, and workers are navigating careers that increasingly require them to learn, retrain, and change direction more often than past generations. At the same time, young adults are pursuing a wider range of training options beyond traditional higher education.

But federal workforce policy has not kept pace. It still assumes workers progress through their careers on a slow, linear path. Now, lawmakers have an opportunity to fix that. After more than a decade of inertia, Congress is finally moving to reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. And it’s about time.