Listening, Learning, and Building a New Promise of Work

At this year’s Skills Summit, National Skills Coalition officially launched the first phase of A New Promise of Work – a multi-year initiative uniting workers, students, businesses, and policymakers to advance a bold workforce vision – one where everyone has a fair shot at real economic opportunity, no matter where they’re from. 

The launch was the beginning of a national listening and engagement process grounded in a simple but urgent idea: workforce development can no longer be treated as a “second chance” system; it must be a first-choice investment in our economy that strengthens people, businesses, communities, and the broader economy.

We’ve already begun engaging with workers, practitioners, advocates, employers, and leaders. At the Summit, NSC convened a new Advisory Council made up of leaders from workforce, education, business, labor, and philanthropy. And we held interactive listening sessions with Summit attendees, including workforce practitioners; leaders from community colleges, labor, and community-based organizations; employers, students, workers, and funders.

From the first Advisory Council meeting and the Skills Summit interactive listening session, five themes emerged:

1. Workforce Must Be Treated as Economic Infrastructure
   Workforce policy can no longer be treated as a secondary investment. Instead, workforce development should be viewed as a core economic strategy and infrastructure that supports worker mobility, business competitiveness, and long-term economic growth.
2. The System is Structurally Underfunded
   There’s a gap between what the workforce system is expected to deliver and the resources available. There’s a real need to fund the full cost of meaningful workforce development, including training, navigation, supportive services, and employer engagement.
3. Job Quality and Advancement Must Be Core Outcomes
   Training alone isn’t good enough if workers are still being connected to low-wage jobs with limited stability or opportunity for advancement. Workforce investments should be tied to good jobs, economic mobility, and real pathways for career growth.
4. Workforce Systems Must Be Designed for Adaptability
   The workforce system must be agile enough to respond quickly to technological, economic, demographic, and labor market changes, including AI and automation. This includes supporting digital skills, continuous learning, and systems built to change alongside transforming industries.
5. Structural Barriers Limit Workforce Access and Mobility
   Barriers like childcare, housing costs, transportation, and uneven investment negatively affect workforce outcomes because they deeply influence whether people can access and succeed in opportunities.

Over the next few months, in partnership with workforce and economic development, higher education, and advocacy leaders, regional chambers of commerce, and business and industry leaders and NSC will host a series of in-person events and virtual conversations in twenty states. In-person events will occur in Alabama, California, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Texas, and West Virginia.

These events will explore how workforce investments, opportunity, and economic mobility intersect in their communities – big or small, urban, or rural. The goal is twofold: first, to surface experiences, challenges, and solutions looking towards a vision of what an ecosystem would look like that allows people to pursue economic mobility and while also meeting the needs of local economies and communities overall from those closest to the work. Second, to inform storytelling focused on how public investments can support students, workers, businesses, and regional economies.

Through this work, we are gathering insights from workers, learners, employers, training providers, and community leaders to help shape forward-looking storytelling and a workforce policy agenda grounded in real-world experience and practical solutions.

The conversations that began at Skills Summit made one thing clear: the current workforce system is not meeting the scale of today’s economic challenges or opportunities. A New Promise of Work is about building a stronger vision for what workforce policy can and should deliver for workers, businesses, and communities.

Make sure to sign up for our email updates to continue receiving insights we’re learning through this work.