Good news: with a new administration, millions of people unemployed, and a huge disparity between the economic impact of COVID on white workers and on people of color, there’s much thinking going on across the country and in Washington DC about how to accomplish several goals Deaconess values: make sure our recovery is more inclusive, help people earn a family-sustaining wage, and create jobs that ideally are also resilient to automation and other shocks.
With many moving parts, our blog will have lots to share and discuss in the coming months. For now, here is a quick rundown of the most visible two topic areas which are being debated across the country:
~ Apprenticeships. No, I’m not talking about the former hit TV show starring our former President! Instead, apprenticeships are training programs that occur over 5 to 6 years and ultimately allow both companies to gain value and apprentices to learn skills over that time. Typically used in the past to teach individuals the trades, there’s wide recognition now that apprenticeships are an excellent model for a wider range of industries – like aerospace, IT, and other new technology jobs. Apprenticeships are supported by federal laws, to protect apprentices, and the laws are in the process right now of changing. But, the headline is, apprenticeships make good sense and I hope incentives to motivate more employers to create apprenticeship programs will be expanded in the coming years.
~ $15 minimum wage. As a private foundation, we cannot comment on specific legislation, so we don’t have a point of view on this particular idea. There are pros (increasing basement wages help individuals get closer to a family-sustaining wage, wage protection for small/medium sized employers) and cons (federal mandate, loss of jobs) on which many people are commenting. From our perspective, what we care about most is that as many people as possible get to a family-sustaining wage in a good job (one with benefits, career advancement potential, safety and security, among other things) as possible. Especially with some creativity, there are many ways to motivate employers – the most important of which is making the case for this being in employers’ best interest – to partner on this outcome.
Reach out to me if you’d like to learn more about these topics. Also, I’m building my list of organizations to follow on Twitter for the latest research. I’ll publish that later, but please share with me if you find one or two incredibly valuable. (I am looking for perspectives from both sides of the aisle.)