By Javon Dimitri
- 74% of organizations plan to shift some employees to remote work permanently
- The Skills Renewal Act, would award up to $4k in tax credits to newly unemployed workers seeking training in high-demand areas
Companies have either half way or fully committed to going remote in an attempt to keep business alive in the belly of Covid-19. Automation has been the labor market’s boogeyman for years and out of the jobs that have gone remote, most require a form of computer literacy and at best a college degree. Since Black women account for 63.6% of this demographic’s undergraduate college enrollment, and are 70% more likely to earn a master’s degree than their male counter-parts, they may be able to level up to the more than 20,000 data analysts and 144,000 sales representative jobs currently available.
Why This Matters: It seems as though Black women are more equipped to adjust to the looming change in the labor market, as employers are looking for more qualified skilled workers. Particularly because the need for workers with advanced skills is so great that members of Congress have reached across the aisle to draft the Skills Renewal Act, which would award up to $4,000 in tax credits to newly unemployed workers seeking training in high-demand areas.
This demographic may be able to level up to the more than 20,000 data analysts and 144,000 sales representative jobs currently available
Out of the 2.4 million jobs added to the economy throughout June, industries that require less computer skills actually lead the way. When we look across various business sectors, Black and Latinx workers are overrepresented in the restaurant and hotel industry. They can’t just work from home because only 16% of Latinx workers and 20% of Black workers have that ability, compared with 30% of white workers.
Situational Awareness: During the last recession the top 1% captured 85% of post-recession job income growth from 2009 to 2013. Given that Black and Latinx populations will form more than 50% of the American population by 2050, the economic damage associated with Covid-19 will likely result in a major crisis for generations to come, if employees aren’t upskilled in anticipation of automating simpler tasks.
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