Good Jobs Economy

Building talent systems and scaling programs that deliver good jobs

Good Jobs Economy helps build a prosperous, competitive nation where everyone has clear pathways to good jobs, employers access the talent they need, and Americans at large scale can reach and stay in the middle class.

Learn more about Our Work

America faces a critical disconnect. Employers have millions of open positions across key sectors. At the same time, about half of Americans working full-time don’t earn enough to be self-sufficient.

Our outdated education and workforce systems aren’t solving this challenge at scale. Our education systems were designed for a slower-moving, industrial-era economy with more standardized skills. Our publicly funded workforce systems function as safety nets, rather than engines for connecting people to good jobs. Meanwhile, AI and other technologies are accelerating workforce changes faster than current systems and strategies are adapting. These realities undermine economic prosperity for workers, businesses, and communities alike.

+2 million

More than two million jobs in manufacturing alone will go unfilled by 2030, potentially costing the U.S. economy more than $1 trillion in economic output.
Deloitte Insights

44%

According to one survey, nearly half of full-time workers don’t earn enough to be self-sufficient.
Dayforce

60%

Sixty percent of young people say the American Dream is either not real or unattainable.
The Broken Marketplace

Our Two Cornerstones

With our help, governors, legislative leaders, business, education, and philanthropy can:

Create and Scale Good Jobs Funds

These funds will identify and fund the development, evaluation, and growth of evidence-based, scalable models that connect employers, job seekers, and education and training providers in local regions. Our goal: 10,000 people identified, trained, and hired into good jobs by 2030.

Modernize Talent Systems

These talent systems will scale and sustain pathways to good jobs, give employers access to the skilled talent they need, and advance economic development and national security. Our goal: connect hundreds of thousands of people to good jobs over a decade, earning billions in additional wages. Our intensive work with states and regions will build the evidence base on what works and inform playbooks and tools that communities across the country can use to guide their work.

Learn more about our talent systems framework.

These complementary approaches — creating funds and modernizing systems — seamlessly reinforce each other.

Who We Are

Good Jobs Economy is a bipartisan effort launched and operated by the national nonprofit organization America Achieves. It is a centerpiece of the National Governors Association's Chair’s Initiative led by Chairman and Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt. Our first full-fledged state partnerships are with Oklahoma and with Maryland through a partnership with Governor and NGA Vice-Chair Wes Moore, and will begin working with additional states and communities soon.

Philanthropic funding for the planning and early stages of Good Jobs Economy has been provided by Blue Meridian Partners, the George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF), MacKenzie Scott, Strada Education Foundation, and others. This effort builds on America Achieves’ efforts to help Tech Hub applicants develop their plans — funded by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, GKFF, and others. We are in active discussions, and welcome additional conversations, with national and in-state funders to support the full launch and scaling of Good Jobs Economy.

Our funders and partners include the following:

What We’ve Done

This work is grounded in America Achieves’ practical experience working with regional economic and workforce intermediaries, leading policymakers, and other experts. In the past decade, America Achieves has:

Launched high-performing initiatives like Merit America, which has served over 10,000 low-income adults, with emerging evidence of substantial impacts on wage gains.
Created Accelerate to respond to urgent educational needs sparked by COVID-19 with high-dosage tutoring for hundreds of thousands of students — raising $65 million, recruiting leadership, generating evidence about what works, and launching partnerships with seven states to institutionalize public funding for this work.
Helped design and champion over $2 billion in bipartisan economic and workforce programs, including helping to secure $500 million from Congress for Regional Tech Hubs.
Worked closely with dozens of communities to develop plans and funding applications — helping local partners win almost $250 million in funding to support economic and workforce development.