| 摘要 | The speed-dating events that double as the opening debates of the 2020 presidential campaign are producing some sweeping proposals regarding health care and a green New Deal. But when it comes to helping American workers adapt to the rapidly changing nature of work, we hear less inspiring, often recycled, ideas. Candidates rightly pointed out many of the trends reshaping the workplace and the workforce, but they missed the most powerful force of all: the desire in U.S. workers to embrace the changing nature of work and improve their prospects. When we surveyed 11,000 “middle skills” workers (those with less education than a four-year college degree) across the world, we found that U.S. workers had the greatest sense of optimism, engagement, and agency in the face of momentous changes in technology and global markets — compared to workers in advanced countries like France, Germany and the UK, or those in emerging markets like Brazil, China and India.
U.S. workers were also the most likely to hold themselves, rather than companies or government, responsible for preparing for the future of work. But while nearly half of U.S. workers surveyed saw the need to prepare for future work requirements, only a third considered themselves capable of preparing. The impediments they cited most often were the high cost of training and the loss of wages as they took time to train. Both obstacles suggest a crucial and urgent role for private and public innovation in fostering the latent enthusiasm of U.S. workers to make themselves workforce ready.
Regardless of politics, there are two other important areas where paradigm-shifting innovation will be particularly important. The first is in the role of U.S. community colleges, currently an underutilized resource. While the candidates debate how to address high tuition costs and student debt, the traditional argument for a four-year college degree overlooks the valuable alternative offered by community colleges. The Aspen Institute’s College Excellence Program spent a year studying 30 community colleges that have succeeded in readying their students for job opportunities in a dynamic, fast-changing economy.
Mira Costa Community College in Southern California for example, coordinates with regional employers, economic development agencies, and communities to create curricula and degree programs in emerging disciplines like bio-manufacturing. Lake Area Technical Institute in South Dakota, prepares students, many from rural, low-income communities, for careers in agro business and advanced manufacturing. Given their lower tuition, training in foundational workforce readiness skills like punctuality, and job-placement services, such community colleges help companies in the region prosper while putting workers on the path to well-paying, quality jobs. |
