Closing the Skills Gap

We’re having a problem with numbers. Big data is transforming the way we live and work—in exciting and important ways. But the skills gap is big, too. New research conducted jointly by PwC and the Business-Higher Education Forum, paints a disturbing picture when it comes to a workforce that will not be equipped with the data science skills to fill the jobs of the future. According to this research, by 2021, 69 percent of executives expect to choose job candidates with data science skills over those without them, yet only 23 percent of educators say their students will graduate from college equipped with these skills.

These are not the only numbers that don’t add up. One in every two teens is financially illiterate. Americans have accumulated a staggering $1.3 trillion in student debt. And, more than half of millennials say they are concerned about their ability to pay off their student loans.

What concerns me most is another gap, one that connects these numbers and the story they tell. And, that is lack of access and opportunity. Here are some of the basic components of this calculus:

• While young people across our country lack basic financial skills, financial literacy is particularly acute in communities with unequal access to education—underserved communities—where literacy rates are among the lowest in the nation.
• Even for students who have had some financial education, student loan debt has increasingly become a factor in their lives. And, here too, this issue disproportionately affects specific communities. Low-income students and Black students carry higher loan balances. Both Black and Latino students drop out of college with higher rates of debt than White students.
• Lack of access and opportunity isn’t confined to the educational arena. It’s a factor in the professional workplace, too. Black and Latino professionals hold only six and seven percent respectively of jobs in STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math), which will comprise a workforce estimated to rise to 8.5 million in the U.S. by next year.

I am concerned about the impact of these gaps and pressures on individuals, our communities, and our businesses. As someone who has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 15 years, I have seen close up the great value and opportunities associated with STEM and data science education and skills. As Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer for PwC, I experience, every day, first hand, the power and promise of creating a diverse workforce. I believe that to grow our businesses and the American economy, we will need a diverse workforce prepared to handle—and succeed in—the fast changing, high-demand data-driven jobs of the future.

We have a both a great responsibility, and a great opportunity, to address these issues, not with stop-gap measures, but with sustainable solutions that seek to address these challenges on a systemic level. This is why I am proud of PwC’s Access Your Potential? initiative, a $320 million, five-year commitment focused on closing the education, opportunity, and skills gaps. The initiative builds on the momentum we achieved with our pioneering financial literacy program, Earn Your Future? , our recent collaboration with former math-teacher-turned-rap artist Dee-1, and our firm’s Student Loan Paydown benefit.  Our goal is to reach more than 10 million students in underserved communities with programs, mentoring, and access to resources that can enable students to learn technology skills, develop financial literacy and capability, and make smart choices about college and careers. And, we will empower 100,000 educators with training and tools to help them guide their students in making sound financial decisions.

I have been involved with, and a champion of, financial literacy education for young people for more than a decade. What excites me, above all, about this new commitment is its sharp focus on reaching the students who need it most and—because of this focus—its investment in our collective future. Inequality is one of the most important social issues of our time and it will take all of us to solve it. My hope is that Access Your Potential? will provide an important step in the right direction.