Connecting the Navajo Nation to Jobs through AI-Powered Employment Matching

Few American communities have experienced the layers of workforce exclusion,

economic hardship, and historical inequities that the 165,000 residents of the Navajo Nation continue to face. Spanning across Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, this sovereign territory has been battling unemployment rates that are among the highest in the nation.

Each year, approximately 2,000 high school graduates compete for the estimated only 200 new jobs created locally. This lack of opportunities is one reason why household income on the reservation is less than half of the U.S. median. Yet, paradoxically, there are nearly 3,500 open positions on the reservation — primarily in government services — unfilled due to misaligned skills, lack of access to training and historical disenfranchisement.

an AI-focused tech nonprofit, seeks to disrupt this cycle by using artificial intelligence to match, train and place members of the Navajo Nation with thriving wage jobs. Their project, the Navajo Workforce Services App is being developed  to streamline employment matching, identify skill gaps and connect residents to thriving-wage opportunities.

“EdTech for Learning is one of a number of organizations we are supporting to build a technology-enabled solution to job matching with transformative potential,”

said Matt Zieger, senior program officer at GitLab Foundation.

“It’s not just another job board — it’s a sophisticated attempt at shifting how underserved communities access employment pathways.”

The app’s functionality extends beyond listing job openings. It uses AI to parse and match competencies with available job descriptions, enabling users to identify areas where upskilling can make them competitive for roles that have remained unfilled for years. By mid-2025, when the app is expected to be fully operational, it will offer competency-based matching, personalized career pathways and targeted job recommendations.

“People on the reservation often face barriers that go beyond what a traditional employment service can address,” explained Colin Smythe, CEO of EdTech for Learning. “Our goal is to equip every job seeker with tools that meet them where they are and open doors to a better future.”

EdTech for Learning expects to place at least 200 Navajo workers into better paying jobs during the app’s first year — with those numbers poised to grow year over year as the platform integrates new capabilities.

Tackling Systemic Underemployment

The socioeconomic challenges of the Navajo Nation are entrenched, systemic and complex, making them difficult to address through conventional workforce development strategies. For generations, the Nation has faced economic marginalization and underfunding, compounded by the geographical isolation of its communities. The poverty rate is more than three times the national average, and the absence of meaningful job data collection complicates any efforts at economic revitalization.

To combat these challenges, EdTech for Learning partnered with Aspire Ability, which already had a database of 1,400 detailed job descriptions within the Navajo Nation, including the specific competencies and skills needed for those jobs. 

But Aspire Ability was loading all that information manually, a slow, tedious process. Thor Anderson, EdTech for Learning’s chief technology officer, realized that a generative AI-powered tool could speed the process exponentially. Anderson said the marriage of AI and employment matching struck him as a perfect solution, “especially given the current emphasis of skills in hiring.”

“Processing this kind of information manually would have taken years,” Smythe noted. “With AI, it was done in under 10 hours. That efficiency isn’t just a convenience — it’s a game-changer for creating a workforce development strategy that can finally keep pace with the community’s needs.”

EdTech for Learning’s app is designed to benefit both job seekers and employers. Job seekers can input their resumes, and about 30 seconds later, they’ll receive a report that assesses their competencies and whittles down the list to 20 or so jobs that match their qualifications. Employers can use the app to rank top candidates by the percentage of competencies they possess for open positions.

“This is colossal in terms of opportunity,” said Smythe. “Some of the jobs have been vacant for years. And it also says to job seekers, ‘If you develop these skills, you could actually be a benefit for these other jobs over here as well.’”

Potential for Scale and Systems Change

While the current focus is on the Navajo Nation, leaders at EdTech for Learning and Aspire Ability are already thinking about what comes next. They envision a future where the app is deployed across multiple underserved communities nationwide. Moroni Benally, director of public policy and partnerships for Aspire Ability, believes the Navajo Nation offers a unique proving ground for the technology.

He notes that if the app works in a labor market like the Navajo Nation, it can work anywhere. “The Navajo Nation is a good test case for the scalability of this app with multiple different dimensions and challenges that I don't think other areas could possibly present.”

Anderson definitely feels a sense of urgency from job seekers and employers with whom he discusses the project. He says they tell him that millions of people need this service right away. His response?

“We're trying to get it right for one community to start.”

EdTech for Learning was among 13 organizations awarded grants in November 2023 from GitLab Foundation’s AI for Economic Opportunity Fund. The fund supports organizations scaling AI-powered tools that can drive income gains and advance economic mobility, including streamlining access and lowering barriers to services.

EdTech for Learning

1,404 x ROI

This project is estimated to increase annual earnings by $27,490 per person, for a total additional lifetime earnings of $824,700 per person.

Total lifetime earnings increase across all participants: $577,290,000

$100,000 invested