A group of fifteen workforce leaders convened to elevate employer leadership within public workforce systems.
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 answer three practical questions: how employers can lead, which decisions they should hold, and what states would need to change to make it real.
The body of work on this site is the result of that collaboration. It draws on the collective field experience of the members, the specific case studies they brought to the group, and the structural analysis that emerged from the group's discussions. The ideas and resources here are grounded in their work; the writing was synthesized and drafted by the co-leaders on the initiative's behalf.
Fifteen practitioners across sector intermediaries, employer-led coalitions, policy organizations, philanthropy, academic research, and state systems.
The group works with partners in four ways. If one of them fits your organization, we’d welcome a conversation.
We publish pieces of this work with partners – a co-authored series, a guest piece, or a feature of one of the tools – and bring the ideas to memberships and convenings, shaped to the formats your audience already reads.
We work with states, sector intermediaries, and funders to apply these ideas in specific settings – a state exploring what an industry-led talent system could look like, a sector intermediary building its capacity or its first demand picture, or a foundation investing in the employer-led organizations this model depends on.
We’re gathering endorsements from individuals and business organizations that support this vision – adding your name signals to state leaders that the demand for change is real. Read the statement of principles and endorse →
Bring your perspective and your ideas – what the site gets right, what it misses, and what you have learned in your own state or sector – or work with us to document what your organization has built as a case study. The collection grows as the field does.
With thanks to the Livelihood Impact Fund for the seed funding that made this work possible.
Their support enabled the convening of the group, the synthesis of the body of work presented here, and the development of the resources on this site.
Questions or feedback? Interested in publishing together, putting these ideas into practice in your state or sector, endorsing the recommendations – or something we haven’t thought of? We’d love to hear from you.
The thinking behind this work continues on Substack.
Organizations that share this vision can add their name – a signal to state leaders that the demand for change is real.
Read and endorse →