Quality Jobs, Workforce Development,
and The Future of Work
This portfolio explores how employers, workforce systems, and policymakers can better align to create quality jobs and sustainable career pathways in a rapidly changing economy. The work focuses on strengthening employer practices, advancing skills-based approaches to hiring and development, and building more responsive workforce ecosystems that expand opportunity for workers while helping businesses adapt to technological and labor market shifts.
Employer of Choice Initiative, Year 2
Partners: Office of Workforce Development for The City of Philadelphia, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
We’re in Year 2 our Employer of Choice Program, an initiative that builds on the City of Philadelphia’s commitment to strengthening employer practices that support retention, equity, and meaningful work experiences, particularly for young workers. The program’s core intention is to deepen employer capability, foster peer-to-peer learning, and strengthen alignment between employers and public systems, while remaining responsive to the real constraints and opportunities employers face.
A Skills Blueprint for Philadelphia
Partners: Office of Workforce Development for The City of Philadelphia, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, The Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
The Skills Blueprint is a discovery research project designed to address a growing disconnect between how employers define “essential skills” and how those skills are actually practiced, observed, and developed on the job. The project’s goal is to shift Philadelphia toward a clearer, shared, and actionable skills-based future by identifying priority non-technical skills and their related career development pathways across opportunity industries.