how job search and matching shapes the labor market

Low-wage workers often have transferable skills for better-paying and better-fit roles. Yet today’s job search and hiring systems still focus on past experience, not potential – driving mismatches, occupational segregation, and slower mobility.

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    women
    Women are overrepresented in low-wage jobs and underrepresented in higher-paying roles. In particular, women of color are especially concentrated and more likely to earn below living wages.
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    skilled through alternative routes (STARs)
    Over half of U.S. workers are STARs. Many build skills in lower-wage jobs that overlap with higher-wage roles, yet screening still relies heavily on credentials and prior titles.
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    low wage workers
    Many low-wage roles build transferable skills, but job search and screening match on past titles. Further, high turnover erodes stability, keeping workers cycling through low-paying jobs.
what we see

Interest in skills-based hiring is accelerating. Yet evidence on which approaches reliably improve individual mobility and outcomes – and how to implement them inside real systems – remains thin. A skills-first approach can be:

→ Good for people: higher wages, mobility across occupations, stronger career growth
→ Good for businesses: better fit, improved performance, reduced attrition
→ Good for communities: greater household stability, stronger local economies

how we respond

Our response is rooted in evidence and testing and targets critical gaps in existing tools.

We use a skills-based approach to help workers identify higher-paying, better-fit roles.
how we create change

We put evidence into practice through solutions co-designed with workers and firms, driving systemic change that lasts.

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    solution & design
    Co-designing skills-based matching tools that expand access to higher-paying, better-fit jobs for workers.
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    scalable interventions
    Piloting platform and employer integrations to drive impact at scale.
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    rigorous research
    Measuring impact through randomized trials for workers, businesses, and communities.
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    advocacy & partnerships
    Embedding worker voice into policy, employer practices, and platform design.
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    capability development
    Helping organizations adopt skills-first practices and reduce biased screening with evidence-backed tools.
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    analysis advisory
    Using data to understand how current hiring practices affect worker wellbeing and business performance.
Algorithmic, skills-based assessments can improve hiring rates for entry level job seekers while reducing search time.
ready to expand pathways to better jobs?

support workers, strengthen businesses, and grow more resilient local economies.

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