Building America’s Workforce Through Global Skills

The United States faces a paradox: employers report persistent difficulty filling skilled positions, while millions of workers—many with international education experience, credentials, and cross-cultural expertise—remain underutilized. In an increasingly interconnected global economy, the skills that come from international experience are not just valuable; they are essential.

Today, a growing share of immigrants arriving in the United States hold college degrees, many from U.S. universities. They bring multilingual fluency, cross-cultural competencies, and specialized expertise honed in education systems and industries around the world. Yet systemic barriers—from fragmented credential recognition to inadequate support for foundational skill-building—prevent these workers from contributing at their full potential.

To explore how the United States can better leverage global talent and learn from international workforce development models, International Educator spoke with Katie Spiker, chief of federal affairs, and Amanda Bergson-Shilcock, senior fellow, at the National Skills Coalition (NSC). Their organization advocates for inclusive, high-quality skills training that opens pathways to better lives for workers and sustained growth for businesses. They share their insights on credential recognition, digital skills, apprenticeship systems, and what the United States can learn from its global counterparts.

Editor’s note: This interview has been edited and condensed.

How does the NSC view the role of international education, intercultural skills, and cross-border skill development in addressing domestic workforce gaps?

Jobs that require skills training are the backbone of our economy. The NSC fights for a national commitment to inclusive, high-quality skills training so that more people have access to a better life, and more local businesses see sustained growth. We support workforce policies that allow all workers in the United States—whether born here or abroad—to contribute at their full potential.

Notably, immigrants coming to the United States in recent years have increasingly arrived with substantial international education. Research from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute shows that 48 percent of those arriving between 2018–2022 had a college degree. And regardless of their level of formal education, many immigrants bring multilingual and cross-cultural skills.

Each of these characteristics can help provide crucial expertise to the broader U.S. labor market. Whether providing home care to a disabled elder who needs a caregiver who speaks their language or providing expert scientific and technical skills that aid in new product development, people with international education and experience have much to offer.

What role should international credential recognition and skills validation play in U.S. workforce policy, especially for immigrant workers and international graduates?

The task of transferring international credentials to a U.S. context is complex and can be lengthy. Because most professions and occupations are licensed at the state level, the landscape is often described as being like fifty individual countries rather than one coherent whole. Making this process more straightforward by removing administrative burdens is a win-win for everyone: It allows qualified immigrants to find skill-appropriate jobs—for example, doctors working in medicine rather than driving a taxi or working in a warehouse—and it allows U.S. employers and communities to benefit from skilled talent. For example, states can expand the list of English-language exams that applicants can use to prove their fluency, or publish a clear, step-by-step guide to the state’s licensing process so that unfamiliar applicants don’t waste time trying to comply with requirements that aren’t relevant for their specific occupation.

States are taking action to reduce these barriers, and several have enacted bold, forward-thinking policies to help new immigrants make effective use of credentials earned abroad. The nonprofit World Education Services, a member of the NSC, has worked with numerous state officials on such initiatives; some received a major boost at the start of the COVID pandemic. For example, Virginia has passed legislation that will allow internationally trained physicians to practice under a provisional or restricted license while they complete the requirements for full licensure—a move that is specifically designed to boost physician availability in medically underserved parts of the state.

But licensing reform is only part of the equation. Many immigrants also need affordable pathways to add U.S.-based credentials that complement their international training.

Another boost in support occurred in summer 2025, when Congress passed new legislation known as Workforce Pell. This legislation will help millions of U.S. adults—including eligible immigrants—to pursue additional short-term, high-quality postsecondary credentials. States have already invested nearly $6 billion of their own funds to provide similar financial aid. Earlier research has shown that such short-term credentials are helpful for immigrant professionals who seek to add a ‘Made in America’ stamp on their résumé to help U.S. hiring managers understand their expertise.

A key step to implement Workforce Pell provisions from H.R. 1 is for states to identify which programs—that lead to credentials—should be eligible for federal financing. As the credential landscape continues to grow and evolve, the ongoing coordination among states, businesses, and workforce advocates is key to move toward a workforce hired and valued for the contributions and skills they bring.

Given NSC’s research showing that 92 percent of U.S. jobs now require digital skills, how can international partnerships help close America’s digital skill divide—especially for workers of color, rural communities, and immigrant workers who are disproportionately affected?

The demand for digital skills is significant across small and large businesses. Businesses want workers to have foundational digital skills as well as industry-specific digital skills—such as being able to navigate electronic health records. In industries where immigrants make up a significant part of the sector—hospitality, agriculture, construction—the demand for digital skills is high. Some immigrants arrive in the United States with strong digital skills already—whether as consumers using mobile apps like M-Pesa to transfer money, as workers using office productivity software, or as technology developers and designers themselves. But others have not had the opportunity to develop their digital skills.

Overall, nearly one-third of workers in the United States have not had the opportunity to develop their digital skills. This number is even higher among the subset of those workers who are immigrants. When workers can demonstrate these skills, and move from a job that does not require any digital skills to a job that requires even one such skill, they can see a 23 percent increase in wages.

One promising example of international connections in digital skill-building is the EdTech Center, which draws on the international relationships and expertise of its parent nonprofit World Education/JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. to support its digital skills programs for youth and adults.

What lessons from international workforce development models or apprenticeship systems could be most effectively adapted to strengthen the U.S. workforce?

There are great lessons from other countries in workforce and apprenticeship. Singapore invests significantly in a worker’s ability to complete training and succeed on the job. Switzerland has established itself as a leader embedding education and apprenticeship pathways. Even missteps from other countries can teach us about the pitfalls of certain strategies.

What we need to do for our workforce in the United States really builds on the examples we’ve seen—in part and in full—from other countries. First, workers need access to training for skills that businesses are hiring for. This means education and workforce programs aligned to where workers and students are and tailored to the needs of employers.

Second, workers need access to foundational skill-building opportunities and support for basic needs in order for them to succeed in workforce programs. But in 2025 we saw federal cuts and policy changes to programs that help people access English language learning, health care, and food. Providing those services is the first step to making sure people can access and succeed in training.

Third, students and their families, policymakers, and businesses need access to good data that helps them make informed decisions about investing in training programs and other supports. Examples of such data include program graduation rates, employment placement rates, and wage levels—in short, the kind of information that any jobseeker would want to have when trying to decide whether to enroll in an education or workforce program, but which our research has shown can often be hard to find.

How can partnerships between U.S. educational institutions and international counterparts enhance skills training, particularly in high-demand sectors like health care, technology, or advanced manufacturing?

Innovative partnerships like those between Northern Essex Community College in Massachusetts and the Institute of Dominicans Living Abroad can be exceptionally powerful in ensuring that immigrants arriving to the United States can make the best use of their skills and abilities. It takes education and workforce leaders with vision to design and implement such partnerships. In 2020, NSC was honored to present an award for federal education and workforce policy advocacy to Noemí Custodia-Lora, who led the development of the partnership and has worked with other NECC leaders to strengthen ties with higher education officials in the Dominican Republic.

These partnerships are crucial in supporting students’ success as they progress along secondary and postsecondary pathways and move between the Dominican Republic and the United States. They also foster local economic vitality in Massachusetts, because individuals’ economic contributions typically increase as their educational attainment grows. Finally, partnerships help to strengthen and sustain the role of U.S.-based higher education institutions as economic engines in their own right.

The message from the NSC is clear: the United States cannot afford to leave global talent on the sidelines. Whether through smarter credential recognition, stronger digital skills investments, or partnerships that bridge international and domestic education systems, the building blocks for a more inclusive and competitive workforce are within reach.  •