Owens Introduces MATCH Act to Help Connect Students with Opportunity

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Congressman Burgess Owens (UT-04), Vice Chair of the House Education and Workforce Committee and Chairman of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee, today introduced the Modernizing Access to Talents, Credentials, and Hiring Act of 2026 (MATCH Act).

This legislation would transform America’s outdated workforce system by establishing state-led talent marketplaces, creating portable Learning and Employment Records (LERs), and connecting workers to jobs and training based on their verified skills and credentials.

America’s workforce system is broken, disjointed,and lags behind other modern economies. In the labor market today, industries have millions of job openings, but they are struggling to find skilled workers to fill them. That isn’t because those workers don’t exist, but because our outdated system of degrees and resumes fail to capture and communicate what workers actually know and can do. The MATCH Act would help modernize our workforce system by improving how a person’s skills, credentials, and work experience are recognized and verified, and how they are then connected with tailored opportunities. The legislation is supported by a range of stakeholders and leaders in the workforce development space, including EBSCOed and Pearson.

“America’s promise has always been that if we educate our children and teach them to work hard, they will be able to find meaningful employment and create a better life than those who came before them. The MATCH Act helps restore that promise and modernize our workforce, and connects real talent to real opportunity. No one is reduced to a line on a résumé; every achievement is seen, valued, and ready to open doors of opportunity.”

Representative Burgess Owens

“As our workforce shifts toward a more skills-based model, employers often struggle to find qualified candidates, while job seekers face challenges in effectively demonstrating their abilities. This legislation helps close that gap by recognizing that valuable skills are gained in many ways—not just through traditional degrees—and ensuring those skills are visible, portable, and trusted. It’s a win for both workers and employers, making hiring more efficient and delivering better matches with less guesswork.”

Education and Workforce Chairman Tim Walberg


“The MATCH Act of 2026 moves skills‑based hiring a meaningful step forward by modernizing how skills, credentials, and jobs connect. By supporting interoperable talent marketplaces and learning and employment records, the bill gives workers control of their data while helping employers and states make clearer, more transparent hiring decisions.”

   Rosemary Lahasky, Head of Government Relations, Pearson

“A stronger economy for America depends on a workforce system that works for businesses and for people. By modernizing WIOA and investing in talent marketplaces, we will meet the rapidly growing and changing demands of employers while unlocking greater opportunity across every sector of the economy for every American.”

Greg DiDonato, Vice President, EBSCOed

Background

The MATCH Act would specifically:

• Authorize states to develop talent marketplaces—digital platforms that match workers to jobs and training based on verified skills, credentials, and experience.
• Support the use of portable learning and employment records that allow workers to carry their verified skills and credentials across jobs, programs, and state lines.
• Create credential registries to clearly define what degrees, certificates, and training programs represent in terms of skills and competencies.
• Establish a Workforce Data Quality Initiative grant program (using existing WIOA funds) to help states build and improve workforce data systems and talent marketplaces.
• Require workforce information to be accessible through user-friendly, searchable public websites to improve transparency for workers and employers.
• Promote interoperability and open standards to ensure systems can work across state lines and institutions, which would support worker mobility and reduce duplication.

Bill Text | One-Pager

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