Let's Innovate To Reduce Unemployment Faster

Given that Labor Day was on Monday, this week is about the challenges of lowering unemployment and the need for major innovations on training and employment matching. We have an antiquated system showing additional deficiencies due to COVID-19. One of my major initiatives as Governor was the Marshall Plan for Talent to start moving the employment world in a better direction. I wish I would have started work on this program earlier in my administration. Many of the comments below were based on good research that went into that plan.

Pre COVID-19 challenges:

1. Many of the best career opportunities require specialized training

Information technology and computer science are among the fastest-growing, best-paying employment sectors and these positions require specialized training. Many traditional educational institutions are not well suited to provide this type of training. IT is not the only hot field that has specialized training needs. Others include healthcare, manufacturing, construction, and business. 

2. The lack of information matching supply and demand for employment

Most people choose their career field with incomplete information. Quite often, a young person will pick a field to follow in someone else’s footsteps and because it sounds cool. Seldom do they get solid information on how many openings are available, what the compensation levels are, and what the long-term career path looks like. We should never tell anyone what they should or should not study or what field to aspire to, but we can provide much better information on the marketplace and the realities of any particular field.

Recent COVID-related challenges:

1. Reducing unemployment is going to be harder than in the past

Pre-COVID, the national unemployment rate was running below 4%. In August, the rate was more than double that at 8.4%. Many people lost jobs in industries such as hospitality and transportation, which are not going to totally recover for a long time. This presents a structural problem since these hard-working folks can’t simply move into fast-growing economic sectors since they require specialized training.

2. Many new graduates are going to have a harder time finding work

COVID-19 has already dramatically disrupted the process of graduating from our educational institutions. It also disrupted the process of recruiting and hiring from schools. One of the best ways to get a permanent job was to have an internship. The pandemic has had a major negative impact on internships.

3. Access to technology is a major barrier to specialized training

This has been a traditional problem, which COVID-19 has only made much more challenging. Many people don’t have access to the technology needed to learn high-demand skills. The pandemic has made it even harder since there is much more limited access to libraries, school learning labs, etc.

 Solutions to consider:

1. Dramatically expand certificate programs

We need to dramatically expand certificate programs that focus on qualifying people in an expedited time frame. Major companies such as Google and Microsoft have been active in this area. On a local level, community colleges have traditionally been the best place for certificate programs. K-12 districts and universities should join them. We need to build a system of stackable certificates that build a path to lifelong learning.

2.Innovate on accessing technology

While many people are working at home, there is a lot of computer equipment sitting unused in offices. Can we find ways to redeploy this unused equipment into certificate programs to learn IT skills? Also, how much old computer equipment gets disposed of instead of refurbished and reused? Most of the certificate programs do not require the latest, greatest hardware. The ideas above create potential opportunities for new small businesses.

3. Prioritize personalized learning

We need to bring personalized learning to all of our educational system. Personalized learning is self-paced, interactive learning where the student sets the pace and avoids learning pitfalls often found in traditional lecture-style education. Teachers are still critically important. Their role shifts from presenting knowledge to helping coach students and address problem areas.

4. Innovate on virtual internships and projects

Internships have always been one of the best learning and employment paths. Innovative options are worth trying in this area. Consider trying virtual job shadowing as an internship model. Have a successful person and aspiring student stay virtually connected for several hours a day with debriefings at the end of the day. Also, employers could set up team-based projects to assign to students. These projects should be about finding solutions to real needs in the business, not just theoretical studies.

5. Small communities and small businesses can lead

Small communities should build coalitions of business, local schools and government to seek partnerships with companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple. For years, I have believed we should be building twenty- to two-hundred person software and IT centers in small towns that are suppliers to big tech companies. These centers would lead the economic transformation of rural places with well-paying long-term careers.  

6. Provide a well-organized clearinghouse of training and employment information

Every student should have information provided to them about how their interests intersect with employment opportunities. There are some good tools in existence. But, they are not promoted and used in practice enough. We even created a career return-on-investment calculator which showed lifetime earnings reduced by required educational costs. People hopefully find careers in areas that they enjoy; but it is better to also have good economic information about their choice than to not have it. For years, I have said that every college degree program should include a course on career development.

Our society doesn’t do well helping to prepare people for careers. We have a disjointed system where important information is lacking. Our educational system is too much based on one size will work for all. There are going to be many good paying career opportunities in our future; but they will require specialized training at the start and retraining over a lifetime. Let’s move in that direction faster.

Remember, Relentless Positive Action in your life will help you and others. So, I wish you RPA every day!