The Industry-Led Talent Initiative describes a path to give employers, organized by sector, a real role in education, training, and workforce systems – so those systems deliver good jobs for the people we train.
Why today’s employer engagement model falls short, and what that costs students and employers.
The progress employers are making toward speaking with one voice, and how public systems can act on it.
Who does what in building an industry-led talent system: the levers, key roles, and first steps.
Practical guides for employer coalitions and system leaders, plus fourteen case studies.
The Industry-Led Talent Initiative works to strengthen the role employers play in the public systems that shape talent – so that career-focused education, training, and workforce systems produce the skills employers actually need, and learners reach the good jobs those systems were built to deliver. AI makes this more urgent: the skills jobs require are changing faster than public data and public programs can keep up, and in different ways in every industry.
Fifteen workforce leaders – from sector intermediaries, employer-led coalitions, industry associations, state workforce systems, policy organizations, philanthropy, and academic research – met monthly across the first half of 2026 to push forward the field’s understanding of industry-led talent systems. This site gathers the group’s learnings, resources, and recommendations into one place.
Case studies
Fourteen cases, from employers coming together to unlock change to states building employer voice into the system. In Alabama, two employer associations turned scattered hospital needs into a signal the state could act on. In Ohio, more than 45 manufacturers defined the skills their jobs require, and Ohio’s Department of Education and Workforce adopted the result as a statewide standard.
Practical resources for states and leaders considering what an industry-led talent system might look like in their own context.
Four designation paths, sample selection criteria, and what to do when a sector has too many candidates or none.
The conditions that let an intermediary speak credibly on behalf of a sector.
An illustrative example for one state’s aerospace sector: occupations, skills, credentials, and strategies.
Three areas of sector intermediary work a state can fund, and the funding sources that can pay for each.
Which public systems an employer coalition should engage for a given hiring challenge, and what to ask of each.
Why each change matters, what it looks like in practice, and when to pursue it.
We’re putting these ideas to work with partners – publishing pieces of the work together, applying it in specific states and sectors, and bringing it to memberships and convenings. If you work in a state system, an employer coalition, or a foundation and see a fit, we’d welcome a conversation.