1 Ready to Work 1 EMPLOYERS can’t find enough skilled workers to hire for in-demand jobs they must fill to grow their businesses. 2 EDUCATION AND TRAINING PROGRAMS need better information on what skills those in- demand jobs require. 3 HARD-WORKING AMERICANS, whether studying, looking for work, or wanting better career paths, often aren’t sure what training to pursue and whether jobs will be waiting when they finish. Even more striking than the challenges, however, were the common-sense solutions and game- changing opportunities that we discovered. Every problem identified in this review is already being addressed in inspiring ways somewhere in America, usually by purposeful collaboration among some mix of local employers and business associations, local and state governments, American Job Centers and workforce boards, community colleges and universities, unions and labor-management partnerships, community organizations, and social entrepreneurs. So, even as we identify where our employment and training system falls short of what we ought to expect of it, we need to keep our eyes on the real prize. The most important result of this review will be to identify and multiply what is working best today. Our job-driven training review has therefore also recommended, initiated, and in some cases implemented changes to competitive grants and administrative actions or guidance to states. These changes are all designed to create information, incentives, and inspiration for American industry, education, philanthropy, and technology to innovate, to replicate, and to scale up solutions to enable ordinary Americans to find pathways to good jobs and careers, employers to recruit and hire skilled workers their businesses need to compete, and American communities to attract business investment and create jobs by building skilled workforces. Fortunately, as 52 consecutive months of private sector job growth make skilled workers harder to find, American industry is getting mobilized to invest in Americans’ job skills, just as global businesses are once again seeing the United States as the most attractive place in the world to invest, expand, and hire. 1.2 MAKING OUR FEDERAL EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING PROGRAMS MORE JOB-DRIVEN The Presidential Memorandum on Job-Driven Training for Workers called for an action plan within 180 days to make federal employment and training programs more job-driven. Led by Vice President Biden, federal agencies and the White House have responded to this call to action. The actions that agencies are taking will make programs serving over 21 million Americans every year more effective and accountable for training and matching Americans into good jobs that employers need to fill. These programs serve veterans, recently laid-off workers, youth and adults lacking basic workforce skills, Americans with disabilities, those recovering from serious setbacks, and those seeking better career paths. 6