Opportunity for All
To renew and sustain the nation’s prosperity, Congress should expand workforce training and skills development.
Americans everywhere took pride and drew hope from the historic inauguration of President Barack Obama this week.
Now, the really hard work begins. Given the constant flow of dreary news battering American workers, we at Microsoft are heartened that congressional leaders and President Obama have proposed historic investments to get the economy growing again.
We’re particularly pleased that the stimulus packages now on the table provide for vitally important new investments in job training. An improved public system of workforce development will be crucial to sustaining an economic recovery and ensuring that all Americans are able to benefit from it.
Getting the most from such programs will require better use of technology to deliver skills training, especially for adult workers who need to combine work with learning. And government can’t do it all, nor should it. The private sector and government both have vital roles to play.
For several years, Microsoft has tried to do its part. To provide basic tech skills and job training in underserved U.S. communities, for instance, our Unlimited Potential Community Technology Skills Program has provided $85 million in cash, software and training support to more than 4,500 community technology centers since 2003.
We’re also a major supporter of the innovative National Fund for Workforce Solutions, which seeks to train more than 250,000 low-wage American workers for higher paying jobs by 2011. Microsoft is providing $10 million in cash and software for the 21 NFWS sites around the country.
And Microsoft itself has trained roughly 51 million software developers and other technology workers globally over the past decade. Our testing and certification of technical skills is a seal of approval that significantly raises workers’ value and attractiveness to employers. In the past six months, we’ve seen an 18 percent increase in technical certifications as workers seek to differentiate themselves in a challenging economy.
A technologically sophisticated workforce benefits Microsoft, of course, by expanding our pool of potential recruits and business partners. But technological fluency is essential to career success in virtually every sector of the economy, from health care and construction to agriculture and manufacturing. Yet, many Americans lack the skills to qualify for even entry-level information-economy jobs that could support them and their families.
The unprecedented economic dislocation currently underway has raised the urgency for the federal government to do more.
We recognize that negotiation and compromise are inevitable parts of the legislative process, and the stimulus bills introduced this week will change – perhaps radically – before President Obama signs them into law. But the workforce development components, which can help unemployed citizens find jobs and empower current workers to enhance their skills, are too important to sacrifice. We urge lawmakers to keep workforce training and skills development front and center as they finalize their stimulus plans.
