Opportunity@Work pushes skills-based hiring playbook before midterms

Opportunity@Work is giving state and local leaders model executive orders, administrative actions and legislation to put skills-based hiring into practice as voters in 36 states prepare to elect governors in November, according to its Sept. 16 announcement.

The nonprofit’s Building an AI-Ready Workforce: A Policy Playbook for a Skills-Based Labor Market offers adaptable policy language, case studies and guidance for agency leaders and policy staff, including how to use data to measure results.

More than 30 states have already taken action to remove unnecessary degree requirements and prioritize skills, the organization said. Governors advanced that shift through executive orders in 19 of those states.

Released alongside the playbook, Opportunity@Work’s updated Reach for the STARs research puts the population at stake at more than 75 million people, or 50% of the country’s 151.9 million active workers. STARs, short for Skilled Through Alternative Routes, have a high school diploma or equivalent but not a bachelor’s degree. Their skills come from routes including military service, community college, apprenticeships and work experience.

The organization’s analysis of more than 190 million job transitions over the past decade found that similarity between skills is a key driver of workers’ upward mobility. It also estimates that 783,000 more STARs hold well-paid roles than its 2020 trajectory would have predicted, a comparison against that earlier projection rather than a count of jobs created by skills-based policies.

AI presents a potential threat to that mobility, Opportunity@Work argues: changing or eliminating tasks could also remove the on-the-job opportunities workers use to build skills and qualify for better roles.