Perfect Match: How Workers Can Find Jobs That Fit Them Best

The purpose of this report is to focus on mismatch problems in manufacturing labor markets. This report lays out several frictions that keep qualified and available American workers from becoming hired by American manufacturers and puts forth ideas for both manufacturers and the public sector to make the marriages between qualified workers and best-fit jobs happen and work. As such, this report is not focused on measuring or analyzing skills shortages or proposing new ways to build a workforce skilled for twenty-first century manufacturing jobs. Thus, “mismatches” in this report do not refer to “skills mismatches” where workers do not have skills employers want, as they do in some studies; rather, mismatches in this report mean settings where available workers are not being easily and optimally sorted into best-fit jobs.

This report was made possible through the generous support of the Arconic Foundation.