The Education and Labor Cabinet recognizes employer engagement as an essential pillar of the workforce development system. Therefore, it offers several resources for the improvement of job quality, workforce equity, and business services.
The Cabinet for Economic Development is the primary state agency encouraging job creation and retention, as well as business investment in Kentucky. It works to attract new industries and helps existing companies expand. The Cabinet also provides support and resources to entrepreneurs, startups, and small business owners.
Job Quality and Equity Resources
All work is important and deserving of dignity. Providing good quality jobs creates a clear competitive advantage when it comes to recruitment, retention, and execution of a company's mission.
Job Quality
Workforce Equity
The Kentucky Center for Statistics (KSTAT) collects and integrates education and workforce data so that policymakers, practitioners, and the public can make the best-informed decisions possible.
The Kentucky Chamber Foundation supports research, programs and training initiatives that advance the economic and social well-being of the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Foundation Programs
- Workforce Center: Working to align education, workforce, and economic development initiatives throughout Kentucky using the voice of business.
- Kentucky's Talent Pipeline: Building a stronger workforce aligned to the needs of Kentucky's key economic sectors and empowering employers to lead workforce development in Kentucky.
- Bus to Business ®: Providing opportunities for students across Kentucky to learn about career pathways available in local communities and businesses to connect with the future workforce.
- Kentucky Comeback: Helping Kentuckians struggling with substance use disorder, assisting businesses in developing recovery-friendly work environments, and engaging Kentuckians interested in smart criminal justice reforms.
- Fair Chance Academy: Provides businesses with training and experiences to adopt a Fair Chance workplace that provides transformational employment successfully.
- Kentucky Minority-Owned Business Database: This is the first-ever platform in Kentucky helping businesses looking to diversify their supply chain, expand the number of businesses utilizing the certification process, and providing resources for minority-owned businesses.
The Kentucky Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (KY FAME) is a partnership of regional manufacturers whose purpose is to implement apprenticeship-style educations programs that will create a pipeline of highly skilled workers.
The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) is a non-regulatory federal agency that promotes policies and coordinates with employers and all levels of government to increase workplace success for people with disabilities. To support this mission, ODEP sponsors the following policy development and technical assistance resources:
The Kentucky Career Center offers a full suite of services designed to help you grow and manage your workforce so that your business runs more efficiently and profitably. Programs and Services Include:
A Kentucky Work Ready Community certification is a measure of a county's workforce quality. It is an assurance to business and industry that the community is committed to providing the highly-skilled workforce required in today's competitive global economy. Through this effort, Kentucky communities can assess their own workforce strengths and follow a process to become certified as Work Ready or Work Ready in Progress.