New ACT Work Ready Communities Boot Camp!

November 7-8, 2018 and January 9-10, 2019

Both sessions in Little Rock, AR

Apply now!

States with State- or County-Led
ACT® Work Ready Communities

Hover over a state to learn more about ACT® WorkKeys® NCRC® activity there.

States with State or County Led ACT Work Ready Communities

About the data on this site

Wyoming

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 9,403

Certified Counties0/23

Participating Counties2/23

Jobs Profiled7

Platinum50

Gold2,154

Silver5,407

Bronze1,792

ACT WorkKeys NCRC EARNED STATE RANKINGS

This map shows which states have the highest number of people per capita who have earned the ACT WorkKeys NCRC.
States with the greatest percentage of earners are in dark red.

ACT WorkKeys NCRC Earned State Rankings

Top
1-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50

View Heat Map

What is an ACT^® Work Ready Community?

ACT Work Ready Communities (WRC) empowers states, regions and counties with data, processes and tools that drive economic growth. Participants are leveraging the ACT^® WorkKeys^® National Career Readiness Certificate^® (NCRC^®) to measure and close the skills gap — and building common frameworks that link, align and match their workforce development efforts.

ACT^® WorkKeys^® National Career Readiness Certificate^® Total

4,399,981

ACT WorkKeys NCRC Levels:

Platinum:56,545
Gold:910,163
Silver:2,419,594
Bronze:1,013,679

Participating Counties: 414

Employers Supporting: 21,905

Jobs Profiled: 21,894

Work Ready Communities Boot Camp

ACT offers a performance-driven program WRC leadership teams use to initiate, deploy and drive carefully-tailored efforts that grow the number of counties certified as work ready communities.

Learn More

Counties

Counties may engage in the ACT Work Ready Communities program. Any municipality may be accepted into the Boot Camp to build and launch their Work Ready Communities initiative.

Get the latest news

Employers

Employers can be the fuel to drive successful state and county Work Ready Communities initiatives simply by recognizing the ACT® WorkKeys® National Career Readiness Certificate®. And in doing so, they will have a more qualified workforce ready to fill their jobs. Learn more about why employers should engage.

Certify Your Workforce
Hire the Best Applicants
Validate a Job Seeker's WorkKeys NCRC
Workforce Toolkit

Employers recognize the ACT^® WorkKeys^® NCRC^®

View Employer Directory

Verify A Certificate

Employers, to check whether a job seeker's National Career Readiness Certificate^® is valid, enter the certificate number here.

Enter Certificate ID

Recently Certified Counties

Lawrence (AR) September, 2018
Lucas (OH) September, 2018
Cass (MO) September, 2018
Ozark (MO) August, 2018
Rockingham (NC) August, 2018
Lorain (OH) August, 2018
Hinds (MS) August, 2018
Montgomery (MO) August, 2018
St. Clair (MO) August, 2018
Craighead (AR) August, 2018

View Full List

Economic Development

By achieving certified ACT's Work Ready Communities status, counties are demonstrating they have a robust workforce development effort aligned to their economic development needs resulting in:

Business and Industry

know exactly what foundational skills they need for a productive workforce - and to easily communicate their needs

Individuals

understand what skills are required by employers - and how to prepare themselves for success

Policy makers

consistently measure the skills gap in a timely manner at the national, state and local levels

Educators

close the skills gap, via tools integrated into career pathways with stackable industry-recognized credentials

Economic Developers

developers use an on-demand reporting tool to market the quality of their workforce

What Others Are Saying

"Having been in site selection for many years, it has always been difficult to ensure my clients that there is available, stable and reliable workforce in a community. However, in the last few years when I see that a county is ACT Work Ready I know that they are following the steps in planning for the current and future workforce. Therefore, our tendency at FCG is to look strongly at ACT Work Ready Communities for new site locations. I would encourage all communities to seek that status."

Mr. Deane C. Foote, CEcD
President & CEO
Foote Consulting Group, LLC
deane@footeconsulting.com

"As a national site selector, one of the few factors that are critical to almost every company and project is workforce. It is imperative for communities to focus on knowing and improving their existing workforce as well as retaining and attracting high quality talent. ACT Work Ready Communities are setting themselves apart by intentionally developing their local workforce in support of their existing companies while positioning themselves to attract new companies."

Robby Burgan
Manager, Location Strategies
Evergreen Advisors
www.evergreenadvisorsllc.com

"ACT Work Ready is truly the best workforce development marketing tool I have seen."

Chad Chancellor
Co-Founder/CEO
The Next Move Group
New Orleans, Louisiana
http://www.thenextmovegroup.com

"Outstanding program that helps business recruit and retain qualified workers. Congrats on the milestone. As a corrorlary would recommend that all counties become work ready certified.

Dennis Donovan
Director Global Site Selection
Wadley, Donovan, Gutshaw Consulting
ddonovan@wadley-donovan.com

"ACT WorkKeys has been a tremendous help by showing us who has initiative by successfully taking WorkKeys and achieving the scores needed to walk in the door ready to be trained to safely and effectively run a chemical plant."

Todd Akard
Recruiter
Eastman

Videos

What is an ACT Work Ready Community?

ACT Work Readiness System

See more ACT WorkKeys testimonials on YouTube

States with State- or County-LedACT® Work Ready Communities

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 161,657

Certified Counties4/67

Participating Counties18/67

Jobs Profiled260

Platinum3,458

Gold29,244

Silver83,336

Bronze45,619

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 46,872

Certified Counties0/27

Participating Counties0/27

Jobs Profiled44

Platinum289

Gold8,816

Silver25,966

Bronze11,801

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 8,008

Certified Counties0/15

Participating Counties0/15

Jobs Profiled0

Platinum75

Gold1,611

Silver4,773

Bronze1,549

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 74,558

Certified Counties3/75

Participating Counties22/75

Jobs Profiled123

Platinum764

Gold16,998

Silver43,874

Bronze12,922

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 12,939

Certified Counties0/58

Participating Counties1/58

Jobs Profiled68

Platinum180

Gold2,378

Silver7,075

Bronze3,306

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 9,086

Certified Counties1/64

Participating Counties2/64

Jobs Profiled28

Platinum181

Gold1,275

Silver5,366

Bronze2,264

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 2,799

Certified Counties0/8

Participating Counties0/8

Jobs Profiled9

Platinum15

Gold387

Silver1,615

Bronze782

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 419

Certified Counties0/3

Participating Counties0/3

Jobs Profiled1

Platinum2

Gold113

Silver249

Bronze55

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 114,662

Certified Counties0/67

Participating Counties0/67

Jobs Profiled498

Platinum258

Gold21,211

Silver64,550

Bronze28,643

ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certificate Total 340,109

Certified Counties0/159

Participating Counties0/159

Jobs Profiled1,015

Platinum2,235

Gold62,751

Silver187,054

States with State- or County-Led
ACT® Work Ready Communities