Vision

A.I. Prompt authored by Michael David Simmons

Comprehensive Strategy for U.S. Reshoring: 

Integrating Labor Market Bonds, Digital Training Wallets, and Apprenticeships Aligned with CreateInAmerica.com’s Vision 

CreateInAmerica.com Overview 

CreateInAmerica.com stands as a leading brand advocating for a revitalized American manufacturing landscape rooted in innovation, supply chain resilience, and reshoring. Its mission is not only practical—increasing domestic manufacturing, jobs, and economic security—but also deeply symbolic, framing reshoring as a “national revival.” According to both policy and market analyses, the site advances a narrative that places American innovation and supply chain security at the heart of national interests and long-term prosperity. This is further validated by trends showing manufacturing revival, with over 287,000 jobs reshored or nearshored in 2023 alone—a record high. Notably, semiconductor, electric vehicle, clean energy, aerospace, and pharmaceutical sectors are pioneering this renaissance, powered by landmark federal investments and heightened consumer demand for transparency and U.S.-made products. 

Branding and communication strategies reflect a multi-faceted approach: targeting Millennials and Gen Z with appeals to transparency and quality, while motivating broader generations with the promises of economic renewal and national strength. The “Made in America” movement is framed as both a patriotic commitment and an economic imperative, leveraging social responsibility and purposeful spending as engines of change. Messaging consistency, as emphasized in brand guideline studies, helps CreateInAmerica.com build trust, recognition, and a distinctive voice amid a crowded field and at every stakeholder touchpoint. 

Central to the brand is the principle that “long-term success requires strategy”—particularly in workforce development and systematic supply chain rebuilding. CreateInAmerica.com explicitly supports integrating public and private sector action, encouraging structural reforms and coordinated programs that will ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of domestic industry. Its approach aligns with increasing numbers of announced manufacturing “mega-deals,” expanded apprenticeship programs, and major investments in factory infrastructure nationwide. 

CreateInAmerica.com’s branding positions it as an activist platform—more movement than marketplace—placing policy continuity, workforce education, and advanced technology adoption at the core of America’s future. It energetically supports “earn-to-learn” models, digital training innovations, and targeted incentives for both upstream and downstream American supply chain stakeholders. 

Labor Market Bonds Analysis 

Definition, Structure, and Function 

Labor Market Bonds represent a family of innovative, outcomes-based financing mechanisms targeted at workforce development, skills training, and employment outcomes. They operate under a public-private partnership model, often drawing from the framework of Social Impact Bonds (SIBs), Pay for Success (PFS) contracts, and outcomes-based loans. In a typical arrangement, an intermediary raises upfront capital from private investors (both profit-driven and philanthropic), which is then used to fund training, apprenticeship, or workforce development programs. If the program achieves pre-negotiated results—such as employment rates, job retention, or wage gains—the government or a contracting entity repays the investors, often with an additional return. 

Key characteristics: 

• Performance-based: Government pays only for success, shifting operational risk to private investors. 

• Third-party evaluation: Independent metrics and evaluators determine payouts. 

• Flexible deployment: Can fund apprentice wages, training provider fees, supportive services, and living stipends. 

• Multi-party consortium: Typically includes state/federal government, private investors, intermediaries, employers, and service providers. 

• **Leverages public, private, and philanthropic capital for maximum impact, addressing the gap between workforce training needs and available public funding. 

Issuers, Stakeholders, and Funding Mechanisms 

Issuers of Labor Market Bonds range from government entities (at federal, state, or municipal levels) to special intermediaries (nonprofits or public-private partnerships) that manage bond issuance and project oversight. For example, the U.S. Department of Labor, state agencies, and even city economic development councils deploy various bond structures to fund workforce development. Notable examples: 

• The U.S. Treasury and Department of Labor have piloted SIBs focused on reducing recidivism, improving job placement, and expanding apprenticeships. 

• Local governments (e.g., Chicago’s Workforce Solutions Program) use housing and economic development bonds to finance upskilling and apprenticeship programs targeting both incumbent workers and new entrants, prioritizing minority, youth, and vulnerable populations. 

• Intermediaries such as Social Finance, Third Sector Capital, and MDRC play critical roles in capital raising, contract management, and performance monitoring. 

Key stakeholders include: 

• Federal, state, and local government agencies: Set policy, provide performance-based payments, and regulate implementation. 

• Employers: Co-fund programs, hire apprentices, and help shape curricula. 

• Training providers: Design and deliver upskilling and apprenticeship content. 

• Philanthropic and private investors: Supply upfront capital and sometimes technical expertise. 

• Intermediaries: Oversee implementation, data collection, compliance, and risk management. 

• Evaluators: Ensure rigorous outcome measurement and accountability. 

Funding mechanisms for labor market bonds can involve: 

• Grants and Tax Credits: Used to attract employers (e.g., South Carolina, Colorado) to sponsor apprenticeship programs. 

• Bond Proceeds: Used directly to reimburse businesses or fund training infrastructure. 

• Outcomes-based Loans: Learners repay only if employed, with risk shared by providers and investors. 

• Public-Private Grants: Layered to support workforce intermediaries, sector partnerships, or pilot projects. 

• Competitive Grant Cycles: E.g., Chicago’s WSP issues workforce grants in competitive 30-day cycles. 

Evaluation and Policy Impact 

Labor market bonds build a culture of monitoring and evaluation, driving iterative improvement and data-driven performance management. Evaluation mechanisms (often randomized control trials, administrative data analytics, or independent audits) ensure that payments are linked directly to measurable workforce outcomes and not only process metrics. This fosters innovation in program delivery, encourages risk-taking by providers, and rapidly disseminates best practices, especially those that achieve strong job placement, retention, or wage progression metrics. 

Policy frameworks incorporate SIBs and outcomes-based bonds as part of: 

• The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) 

• Federal and state Pay for Success pilots 

• Apprenticeship tax credits and direct employer incentives 

• Expanded use of data systems to verify outcomes and facilitate cross-sector partnerships 

Notable case studies and pilots include: 

• South Carolina’s Registered Apprenticeship program, leveraging tax credits to increase apprenticeship participation eightfold since 2007. 

• New York, Massachusetts, and Utah SIBs, funding interventions in education, workforce readiness, and recidivism reduction with rigorous payment-for-results clauses. 

• Social Finance’s Career Impact Bond, which uses flexible financing to enable upskilling for unemployed or underemployed groups, paying providers only upon job placement, and refunds for non-achievement of outcomes. 

• Chicago’s Workforce Solutions Program uses workforce bonds to fund tailored upskilling and apprenticeship initiatives with robust oversight and outcome reporting obligations. 

Digital Training Wallets: Technologies and Standards 

Overview and Technology 

Digital training wallets are secure, often mobile-first platforms that allow individuals to store, manage, and share digital credentials representing learning achievements, skills, apprenticeships, and employment records. They apply increasingly open standards, such as the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Verifiable Credentials Data Model (VCDM) and decentralized identifiers, to ensure interoperability, privacy, and user control across systems, institutions, and employers. 

Core technology & standards: 

• Open-standards compliance: Wallets like MIT’s Open Source Learner Credential Wallet and LearnCard are platform-agnostic and integrate with a range of verifiable credentials, badges, digital certificates, and learning and employment records (LERs). 

• Interoperability: Digital wallets are designed to connect educational institutions, workforce agencies, and employers, facilitating seamless transfer and verification of credentials. 

• Control and security: Individuals own and manage their records, selectively disclosing information to employers or third parties with advanced privacy features. 

• Integration and analytics: Many wallets provide dashboards, skills mapping, and career pathway recommendations, supporting both learners and employers in navigating skills-based labor markets. 

Examples of platforms: 

• Accredible: Allows automated creation and verification of digital badges, microcredentials, and stackable skills pathways, with robust integration and white-labeling features employed by leading universities (e.g., Syracuse) and training providers. 

• OJT Logbook and GoSprout: Provide apprenticeship tracking systems with real-time logging of competencies, hours, milestones, and compliance, enhancing employer-mentor-apprentice feedback loops and simplifying regulatory reporting. 

• LearnCard (Learning Economy Foundation): An open-source universal wallet for learning and employment, supporting credentials, skills mapping, and usage across any system, including blockchain/Web3 integrations. 

• MIT’s Open Source Wallet: Piloted at various colleges, ensures learners from diverse backgrounds can manage and share their credentials, with source code available for wider adoption. 

Role in Credentialing and Apprenticeship Tracking 

Digital training wallets transform how individuals track and communicate their skills, greatly improving efficiency in recruitment, onboarding, and compliance: 

• Credential management: Aggregate and present verified skills, certificates, and degrees from multiple sources (colleges, training centers, apprenticeships, licensure boards). 

• Apprenticeship tracking: Log daily on-the-job training (OJT) hours, skill mastery, mentor sign-offs, and completion milestones per state and federal requirements. 

• Career mobility: Facilitate “talent portability” by enabling individuals to share career records instantly and credibly across employers and geographies. 

• Workforce program monitoring: Allow government and intermediaries to analyze aggregate data on skill attainment, program completion, employment outcomes, and ROI for workforce programs. 

• Individual empowerment: Especially important for underserved groups—farmworkers, immigrants, and nontraditional learners—by providing secure, portable, and credible access to their credentials. 

Privacy and integrity: Advanced systems use selective disclosure and cryptographic proofs to maintain privacy and combat fraud, enhancing trust for employers and institutions. 

Real-world adoption trends: 

• 64% of U.S. jobseekers are familiar with digital wallets; 75% find them helpful for storing and sharing career records, with greatest uptake among Gen Z, unemployed, and less formally educated groups. 

• Over 500 million people worldwide are expected to use digital identity wallets for daily activities by 2026, with multiple U.S. states piloting wallet solutions for workforce and supply chain credentialing. 

Institutional pilots: 

• Arizona State University’s Trusted Learner Network, Georgia Tech, College Unbound, and San José City College—all leveraging digital wallets for secure, open-standards-based credentialing and employment transitions. 

Strategic Integration Plan: Aligning Bonds and Wallets for Reshoring 

Strategic Rationale 

The U.S. faces a once-in-a-generation opportunity to scale the reshoring of manufacturing and critical supply chains—but success is contingent not solely on tax incentives or industrial policy, but on developing, credentialing, and supporting a massively expanded, modernized workforce. Integrating labor market bonds and digital training wallets into a national reshoring strategy directly addresses root causes of offshoring: skills deficits, lack of credential portability, inefficient training finance, and the need for rapid workforce upskilling adaptable to emerging technological standards in key industries. 

Accordingly, the strategic plan should be explicitly aligned with CreateInAmerica.com’s advocacy for innovation, resilience, supply chain security, and “earn-to-learn” programs, as well as federal and state policy frameworks now emerging from historic industrial investments. 

Policy Frameworks 

National industrial strategy and funding alignment: 

• Leverage the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), and Buy American provisions to underpin workforce development, with around $1 trillion in new manufacturing announced and over $369 billion invested in clean energy and high-tech industries. 

• Require explicit workforce development outcomes and digital skills delivery in all federally subsidized reshoring, clean energy, and infrastructure packages (as included in CHIPS/IRA appropriations). 

• Integrate labor market bonds and pay-for-success funding in federal and state apprenticeship and upskilling grant programs. 

• Mandate digital credentialing and portable training records for all government-subsidized manufacturing apprenticeships as a condition of funding. 

Governance and stakeholder roles: 

• Federal government: National policy, core funding, outcome tracking, standards for credentialing, and cross-agency convening (e.g., Departments of Commerce, Labor, Defense, Energy, and Education). 

• State and local governments: Tax abatements, land grants, oversight, and workforce delivery. 

• Employers and industry consortia: Co-funding, program co-design, hiring and career advancement pathways. 

• Intermediaries: Program navigation, partner coordination, technical assistance, and innovation piloting. 

• Digital wallet and technology providers: Credentialing infrastructure, data integration, privacy, and analytics. 

• Research/data partners: Impact evaluation, workforce analytics, dissemination of best practices. 

Policy recommendations include: 

• Long-term permanence for apprenticeship and skills tax credits, especially for employers in target reshoring sectors. 

• Requirements for “digital training wallet compliance” (i.e., wallet-based credentialing and skill validation) in all new federally funded or bond-funded programs. 

• Streamlining of regulatory, privacy, and interoperability standards for training data and digital credential recognition. 

Implementation Steps 

Phase 1: National Policy Design and Coalition Building 

1. Strategic convening: Assemble a CreateInAmerica.com-led coalition inclusive of federal/state agencies, major employers (Intel, Ford, Amgen, Eli Lilly), labor, and tech/education providers. 

2. Program mapping: Audit current and planned investments in reshored manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure, identifying workforce training needs and credentialing gaps by sector and region. 

3. Policy harmonization: Refine federal/state workforce program rules to accept outcomes-based bond structures, mandate digital credentialing, and align apprenticeship standards across state lines. 

4. Stakeholder alignment: Solidify commitments from private and philanthropic investors, training providers, and state economic development agencies to pool risk and co-invest in bond structures. 

Phase 2: Deployment and Pilot Program Launch 

1. Bond issuance: Issue labor market or outcomes-based workforce bonds at the federal, state, or municipal levels focused on priority reshoring sectors (semiconductors, EVs, critical pharma, green technology). 

1. Bonds may be general (statewide skills training), sectoral (semiconductor apprenticeships), or place-based (dislocated worker upskilling in high-unemployment regions). 

2. Performance metrics tied to job placement, retention, wage growth, and credential attainment. 

2. Program integration: Fund training providers, apprenticeship sponsors, and participating employers using bond proceeds for curriculum development, OJT wages, digital credentialing, and support services. 

3. Digital wallet rollout: Develop or expand interoperable digital training wallet architecture (leveraging open-source models such as LearnCard or MIT’s platform), integrating with participating colleges, vocational programs, and employers. 

1. Issue digital credentials/badges for completed courses, skills mastery, and apprenticeship milestones using wallets. 

4. Apprenticeship expansion: Scale registered apprenticeships and earn-to-learn models in collaboration with community colleges, technical schools, and employers; use digital wallets to track OJT, classroom achievements, and real-time progress. 

5. Data and evaluation infrastructure: Build real-time reporting and analytics dashboards for all partners (employers, funders, intermediaries) to monitor completion rates, job placement, and ROI. 

6. Continuous feedback and improvement: Use performance data to refine programs, expand successful pilots, and redirect funding for underperforming strategies. 

Phase 3: Expansion, Scaling, and Policy Entrenchment 

1. Market signal amplification: Publicize successful pilot results via CreateInAmerica.com channels, partner sites, and national media to drive adoption and mold public and employer perception of U.S. workforce competitiveness. 

2. Permanent funding: Work with Congress and state legislatures to build labor market bond frameworks into baseline funding of industrial, supply chain, and workforce programs (e.g., $3+ billion/year focused on apprenticeships and credentials). 

3. Credential portability: Mandate recognition and acceptance of digital wallet credentials in federal hiring, government contracting, and Supply Chain Security reviews. 

4. Ecosystem development: Promote native wallet-compatible programs for all high-value sectors, including advanced manufacturing, clean tech, and healthcare; encourage third-party developers and startups to build wallet-compliant credential and apprenticeship solutions. 

Execution Roadmap 

The following roadmap synthesizes implementation phases, key metrics, and stakeholder responsibilities, drawing from best practice models and federal/state pilot programs. 

Key Stakeholders, Funding Mechanisms, and Implementation Phases 

Stakeholder 

Role/Function 

Funding Mechanism 

Implementation Phase 

Federal Government (DOE, DOL, DOC, DOD, DHS, NSC, NEC)

Policy creation, main funding, standards, evaluation 

CHIPS Act, IRA, BIL, DPA, Apprenticeship grants, Labor Market Bonds 

Strategic design, bond issuance, monitoring 

State Governments 

Local incentives, workforce delivery, oversight 

Tax abatements, land grants, state workforce bonds, training funds 

Site selection, grantmaking, reporting 

Private Sector Employers 

Hiring, program co-design, training, evaluation 

Internal capital, public-private grants, employer incentives 

Training program development, direct execution 

Educational Institutions 

Curriculum, credentialing, apprenticeship delivery 

Direct grants, bond proceeds, employer contracts 

Classroom/OJT delivery, wallet integration 

Technology Providers 

Digital wallet development, analytics, security 

Platform licensing, public-private funds 

Platform rollout, data integration 

Intermediaries (Social Finance, sector orgs) 

Project management, capital raising, performance monitoring 

Private and philanthropic investment, technical support 

Pre-launch mapping, operational support 

Investors 

Upfront capital, risk-sharing 

Social Impact Bonds, Pay for Success loans, outcomes-based loans 

Funding and risk-bearing 

Workforce Participants 

Apprenticeship/training recipients 

Earn-to-learn stipends, relocation support, public/private aid 

Enrollment, training, job placement 

Research & Data Providers 

Metrics, impact analysis, best practices 

Grant/fee-for-service, subscription 

Evaluation, dissemination 

Source: Synthesized from AllAmerican.org, Reshoring Initiative, federal agency reports, and referenced case studies. 

Key Metrics and Impact Evaluation 

1. Workforce growth: Track apprenticeship enrollments, completions, and transition to full-time jobs, aiming to expand from current baselines to 1–1.5 million active apprentices in the next five years. 

2. Credential attainment: Measure the number and share of workers earning portable, wallet-based digital credentials by sector and geography. 

3. Reshoring-driven job creation: Document new U.S.-based jobs in priority industrial sectors linked directly to bond-funded/credentialed training (e.g., 287,000 jobs announced in 2023 linked to reshoring/FDI). 

4. Private/public capital leveraged: Quantify the ratio of new capital mobilized via labor market bonds per public dollar spent. 

5. Program return on investment: Use cost-benefit analysis, TCO estimators, and outcomes-linked repayment models to drive efficiency and scalability. 

6. Diversity and inclusion: Prioritize and measure trainee participation among underrepresented groups, rural communities, and dislocated workers. 

7. Employer engagement: Monitor the volume and diversity of employers adopting digital wallet credentialing and participating in labor market bond-financed programs. 

8. Supply chain resilience: Incorporate supply chain mapping and capacity tracking into workforce metrics, flagging sectors/regions with significant risk reduction as a result of targeted training and investment. 

Examples and Pilot Models 

Federal and State Initiatives 

• CHIPS Act: Funds workforce programs for semiconductor manufacturing, including apprenticeships and rapid credentialing for high-demand roles, with a $52.7 billion allocation to the broader ecosystem. 

• Inflation Reduction Act: Allocates $369 billion over ten years to clean energy production and workforce investments, often attaching “Buy American” and domestic content requirements. 

• Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot (FMCSA): Targets new entrants (ages 18–20) into the interstate trucking workforce, blending earn-to-learn stipends, coordinated training, and performance monitoring—a model for sector-specific pilot expansion. 

• Chicago Workforce Solutions Program: Rolls out bond-funded, competency-based upskilling and apprenticeship grants for targeted community areas, using annual bond tranches and competitive cycles. 

• Career Impact Bond (Social Finance): Provides income-share and outcomes-based loans to underemployed groups, funding both tuition and supportive services, and repays investors only if participants access high-quality jobs. 

• South Carolina Apprenticeship Tax Credits: State-driven tax credits have dramatically increased apprenticeship participation and employer hiring; similar policies in Colorado support targeted small businesses. 

• IBM and CareerWise Apprenticeships: Employer-designed apprenticeships, competency-based, stackable, and linked to digital certification and full-time employment transitions. 

Digital Wallet Pilots 

• Arizona State University “Trusted Learner Network” and MIT Open Source Wallet: Demonstrate multi-campus, interoperable digital credentials, digital sharing for employment, and rigorous privacy standards. 

• LearnCard and OJT Logbook: Provide robust open-source, scalable credential and apprenticeship tracking, with over 70,000 badges issued in some sector pilots (Scouts, LEGO Foundation) and seamless employer validation and compliance tracking for skilled trades, advanced manufacturing, IT, and healthcare. 

International Benchmarks 

• Germany’s Apprenticeship Model: Cited as a global best practice; 60% of youth complete apprenticeships and credentialing is universally policed, digitalized, and employer-coordinated. 

• Colombian Social Impact Bonds for Employability: Pilots focus on upskilling and credentialing for vulnerable populations, leveraging outcome-based contracts and digital performance management tools to align stakeholders and drive results. 

Lessons Learned and Critical Success Factors 

• Rigorous evaluation and adaptive management: The greatest success comes from embedding strong data infrastructure—digital wallets, real-time dashboards—enabling iterative refinements and transparent monitoring of performance. 

• Stakeholder collaboration: Effective programs feature deep employer engagement, dynamic partnerships, and shared risk/reward frameworks (public-private-philanthropic). 

• Scalability and interoperability: Success requires platforms that can harmonize diverse learner records, employer/educator systems, and regional or sectoral programs into universal, wallet-based frameworks. 

• Inclusion, not just scale: The most resilient models specifically address barriers for women, underrepresented minorities, veterans, and rural workers—both in funding access and digital credential enablement. 

• Alignment with industrial and supply chain policy: Programs are most impactful when explicitly linked to key reshoring sectors, incentivizing workforce pathways aligned with emerging strategic clusters (e.g., batteries, semiconductors, robotics, advanced pharmaceuticals). 

Conclusion: Next Steps for National Execution 

The integration of labor market bonds and digital training wallets into the U.S. reshoring agenda is a historic opportunity. It combines the discipline of outcomes-based finance with the transparency, efficiency, and individual empowerment of digital credentialing—exactly the mix needed to turn federal and private investment in reshoring into sustained economic renewal. By operationalizing this strategy in partnership with the mission and brand principles of CreateInAmerica.com, the U.S. can build not only a more self-reliant manufacturing base but also an agile, future-proof workforce engine for enduring prosperity. 

Immediate recommendations: 

• Convene a CreateInAmerica.com Reshoring Workforce Task Force to formalize strategy, drive pilot execution, and align federal/state/industry action. 

• Prioritize rapid bond and wallet pilots in tech-driven sectors (semiconductors, clean energy, advanced manufacturing) and key geographies, using existing infrastructure where possible. 

• Leverage high-visibility communication and storytelling to highlight success, drive public support, and promote uptake across states and sectors. 

• Monitor, rigorously evaluate, and iteratively refine both funding models and digital platforms to accelerate adoption, ensure inclusion, and guarantee impacts commensurate with America’s industrial ambitions. 

The potential dividends—for workers, industries, and communities—are substantial. With the right frameworks, integrated technology, and coordinated policy, the U.S. can make good on the promise of a new manufacturing century—competitive, resilient, and Made in America.