Building America’s “Ever-Ready” Workforce

Business Roundtable CEOs support policies and initiatives that enable lifelong learning to deliver upward mobility, advance broader economic opportunity and ensure U.S. global competitiveness in the 21st century and well beyond. 

Ensuring that all Americans have the education and skills they need to succeed and thrive in good-paying jobs that become good-paying careers is especially important now, as millions of jobs are currently unfilled, and millions of Americans are not working. Access to high-quality learning is also important to creating greater diversity, equity and inclusion in the U.S. workforce.

Business Roundtable members are committed to closing the skills gap that underlies these numbers — a gap that has been widened by an accelerated demand for new digital and tech skills to support increased innovation in the workplace. In recent surveys, Business Roundtable CEOs have indicated record plans for hiring while also identifying finding and retaining qualified workers as a significant challenge to their company’s U.S. investment, hiring and growth plans in the near term.

Business Roundtable CEOs are taking action on two fronts. They are both supporting public policies and leading initiatives that provide education and training opportunities. Through their advocacy and corporate actions, CEOs of America’s largest employers are committed to ensuring that apprenticeships, internships and other work-based learning programs are more accessible and provide pathways to careers and greater economic opportunity for more Americans. 

America’s federal workforce development system is failing. U.S. employers in every sector of the economy are struggling to fill millions of open jobs. This problem will persist as the needs of our economy continue to change and the skills and education gaps grow.

We need to fix our workforce development system to expand economic opportunity for all Americans and help workers tackle the challenges of today and tomorrow.

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