Executive summary

The recent economic crisis had a significant impact on the United States and the jobs lost during this period have still not been recovered. Furthermore, growth remains fragile and there is the potential that skills mismatches could lead to missed opportunities and inefficient labour markets at both the federal and local level. The OECD Local Economic and Employment Development Programme (LEED) has developed an international comparative project, which examines the capacity of local employment services and training providers to contribute to a long-term strategy which strengthens the resiliency of the local economy, increases skills levels and job quality.