Amplifying Worker Voices to Drive Economic Mobility
SkillUp Coalition
Our non-profit helps workers find training, good-wage jobs, and high-growth careers that don't require a degree.
At SkillUp, we know that hearing directly from workers is essential to understanding their challenges, needs, and opportunities. In this month's edition of the SkillUp Pulse, we’ll explore the power of worker voices in shaping the future of workforce development.?
Drawing on insights from The Power of Anecdotal Data , we’re highlighting the stories behind the statistics and tangible impacts of workers and how their voices continue to drive innovation, inform career solutions, and ultimately, contribute to systemic change.
Workforce Realities??
SkillUp has an unwavering commitment to individuals skilled through alternative routes (STARs); it is crucial that their voices are centered on workforce development that’s focused on building onramps to high-opportunity careers that don’t require a degree.
Our collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's Worker Voices Project allows us to elevate STARs’ lived experiences, especially those facing barriers to high-quality employment. The goal of this partnership is to gain more real-time, anecdotal insights into how STARs navigate the labor market, their financial well-being, and their expectations for the future.
Sneak peek:??
These insights from more than 5,000 individuals confirm the need for SkillUp’s focus on worker-first strategies and allow both SkillUp and the Atlanta Fed to ground their approaches in the lived experiences of STARs, ensuring that training and job opportunities reflect solutions to real-world challenges.
Financial Concern by Salary
Elizabeth Bogue Simpson, "The Power of Anecdotal Data,” August 21, 2024, https://doi.org/10.29338/wc2024-02
Job Market Frustrations
SkillUp's quarterly user survey digs deep into job seekers' personal experiences — including the emotional challenges they face and pervasive economic pressures affecting workers across various income brackets.
By adding customized questions to these pulse surveys, we've uncovered that many respondents, even those earning over $80,000 annually, report that their expenses exceed their income. But the most common job market frustration reported is not hearing back from employers, a barrier for nearly 31% of workers that reinforces the need for accessible career navigation support.
SkillUp is continuously refining its training and career services to ensure we are responsive to worker needs and helping them achieve greater economic opportunity.
Income Covered Expenses over Six Months
领英推荐
Most Common Challenge of the Job Market
Elizabeth Bogue Simpson, "The Power of Anecdotal Data,” August 21, 2024, https://doi.org/10.29338/wc2024-02
Worker Voices Shape SkillUp’s Services
In our 2024 Impact Report , we emphasize our commitment to integrating worker voice and feedback into our platform to better serve and empower STARs. Through our surveys, SkillUp has built longitudinal data on STARs’ workforce journey, following many for up to two years. The data collected represents the impactful stories of workers' resilience and ambition, which in turn guides our decisions and partnerships.
Between July 2023 and June 2024…
These examples exemplify the benefit of and need for remote work and provide insights that can help us identify gaps in the job market. Our goal continues to be creating solutions that drive economic mobility for every worker.
What’s Next?
Looking ahead, we remain focused on harnessing the power of worker voices, especially those facing financial instability and barriers to employment. SkillUp continues to collaborate with workforce partners to gather feedback directly from STARs to guide the expansion of our training pathways, job placement services, and upcoming AI-driven career navigation tools.
During a press conference this year, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted his perspective on the need to dig into anecdotal data to discover the narrative behind the numbers, saying, “I personally find it very helpful in understanding what's going on. … I think you hear things before they show up in the data sometimes.”?
At SkillUp, we are committed to improving this narrative. And by listening to the voices of STARs, we can continue to create opportunities and transform the workforce for underserved populations.
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