Digital Skilling: Paving a Path to a Prosperous Future
This report details the importance of strategies piloted by LISC’s Financial Opportunity Center® program in equipping today’s workforce with digital skills in order to respond to the rapid digitization of labor markets.
Our economy has become increasingly digitized. The integration of technology in the workplace and beyond is happening at a rapid pace. The global pandemic led to the accelerated adoption of digital tools across the nation and led employers to implement technology into their work in novel ways. As a result, today’s professional landscape relies on a workforce that is adept at using technology and digital tools in their work, but leaves many on the wrong side of the Digital Divide — the disparity in digital skilling and broadband access for historically disadvantaged communities.
92% of jobs in the U.S. require digital skills at some level,
but almost one third of workers lack these skills.1
“Digital Skilling: Paving a Path to a Prosperous Future” articulates the need for workforce development agencies, funders, and policy makers to support digital skills training for community members and addresses the need for workers who are equipped with foundational and industry-specific digital skills. This is especially critical for historically disconnected communities.
Three benefits of digital skilling are discussed in detail in this paper:
- Increased digital skilling improves labor participation
- Digital skilling improves working people’s earning potential
- Digital skilling increases revenue for localities by contributing to the tax base.
One implementation strategy explored in the paper, LISC’s Financial Opportunity Center® model of contextualized coaching and wrap-around services, builds confidence of community members and facilitates retention of their digital skills. Additionally, the marrying of digital skilling and experiential learning in occupation-specific workforce training programs further equips clients to excel in their participation in the labor market.
Learn more about digital skilling and LISC’s work in bridging the Digital Divide below.
1 National Skills Coalition https://nationalskillscoalition.org/resource/publications/the-new-landscape-of-digital-literacy/
