Panel
Unbound: Retraining the American Workforce
Milken InstituteCheryl Strauss Einhorn, Arthur Bilger, Allen Blue, Shernaz Daver, Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, Jamie Merisotis, Rick Newman, Nan Morrison, Joel Garrison, Bill Gates
- Nearly two million people in the U.S. are super underemployed, having been out of the workforce for more than half a year.
- Between early 2011 and mid-2020, 11.6 million new jobs were created, with 11.5 million going to individuals holding an associate degree or higher.
- Current workforce development training operates on a "supply push" model that has historically failed to match dynamic economic demand, resulting in a feedback loop lag of eight to nine years between skill emergence and curriculum updates.
- The Obama administration consolidated 49 federal training programs to create a holistic, evidence-based approach focused on "skills for business" and manufacturing partnerships.
- LinkedIn's pilot program, "Skillful," operates in Denver, Colorado, and Phoenix to close the communication gap by securing employer commitments to interview candidates who complete specific training.
- Southern New Hampshire University's "College for America" utilizes a competency-based, B2B online model to scale post-secondary learning through employer partnerships like Anthem.
- Udacity reported 25,000 participants in its "nanodegree" micro-credential programs, with 7,000 specifically enrolled in a self-driving car curriculum that exceeds the undergraduate population of Carnegie Mellon University.
- Udacity's "Udacity Connect" program in Reno, Nevada, helped reduce local unemployment from 15% to 4% by aligning training with the hiring needs of relocated companies like Google, Amazon, and Tesla.
- In a case study involving Carrier Corporation, many workers expressed a preference for unemployment over the prospect of re-education and reskilling, highlighting a cultural barrier to retraining adoption.
- Data shows a significant disparity in degree attainment: 45% of whites hold an associate degree or higher, compared to 29% of Latinos and 21% of Americans overall.
- Art Builder of Working Nation emphasizes that the "slope of the curve" for job and skill changes is steeper than ever, necessitating a networked, local approach rather than a centralized federal solution.
- Ellen Hughes-Cromwick notes that government policy moves too slowly to address the nonlinear transformation of industries like transportation, where autonomous vehicles will reduce vehicle components from 20,000 to a fraction of that number.
- Alan Blue highlighted that the average person requires a support network to navigate job searches, citing a Udacity initiative where professional photography sessions were the most popular service for boosting graduate confidence.
- Shirnaz Dabur emphasized that the median Udacity student is between 28 and 65 years old, driven by the necessity of lifelong learning due to increased longevity and the obsolescence of skills.
- Jamie Marisotis argued that market failures have historically underserved populations of color and low-income groups, requiring a coordinated strategy to lift these groups into the middle class.
- Panelists rejected Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a "red herring," arguing that it fails to address the human need for purpose, satisfaction, and the economic value of work.
- A proposal to tax robots or create corporate tax coefficients to incentivize hiring humans was discussed as a potential mechanism to address automation-driven displacement.
- The "Bright Spot" program at Fort Bragg illustrates a proactive model where economic development groups and community colleges begin training military personnel six to twelve months before their discharge.
- Art Builder identified home health care as a primary future growth sector, noting that demographics will drive massive demand for workers in this field that currently cannot be filled.
- Shirnaz Dabur reported that AT&T upskilled over half its workforce to avoid layoffs, demonstrating a corporate shift toward retention through internal training rather than external hiring.
- The panel concluded that success requires a multi-actor ecosystem involving individuals, employers, educators, government, and community navigators acting in aligned self-interest.