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BROADBAND COMMUNITIES
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www.broadbandcommunities.com
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NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2017
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Training for the 'Gig Economy'
The internet has opened new possibilities for those who have difficulty finding
employment in the current economic environment. To tap into these opportunities,
economic development agencies must learn to think beyond traditional workplaces
and traditional jobs.
By Jessica Denson / Connected Nation
T
he traditional 9-to-5 job still exists, but
it's becoming less and less common.
According to recent research from
economists at Harvard and Princeton, 94
percent of net job growth in the United States
over the last decade has been in the form of
"alternative work." However, few groups are
training people for this type of employment.
"Ninety percent of jobs created since 2010 are
nontraditional jobs. ese are freelance or what
are called gig-type positions. Many are online
and require specific skill sets that companies
need," says Stu Johnson, vice president of Digital
Works, a training program that Connected
Nation operates. "Yet our educational and
workforce systems are not agile and adaptive
enough to train people for the needs specific to
today's job market. Historically, people invested
in education they could amortize over a lifetime
career. e workforce of today requires a lifetime
of learning – the career someone has today might
not exist tomorrow, and tomorrow's job likely
doesn't even exist today."
However, many communities, both urban
and rural, have been slow to respond to this
change because their economic developers
follow traditional economic growth strategies.
In other words, they're focused solely on getting
companies to locate in their areas.
"e bottom line is that just building a
plant or improving a building so a business will
move to a town is not where the economy is
going," Johnson adds. "It's hard for traditional
workforce groups to adapt to this new approach.
ey need to understand that investing in
programs that can train residents to fill these
jobs, even if they are located elsewhere, means
they'll be working from home or even an
internet-ready facility in their community and
contributing to their economic growth locally."
FILLING THE JOBS OF THE FUTURE
Digital Works is one of the few training
programs tailored specifically to the gig
economy. Connected Nation, a nonprofit
that seeks to expand broadband to all people,
established the program when it noticed that
many urban and rural communities lacked
digital literacy training. As of early December
2017, Digital Works had placed 852 people in
jobs that required specific online-related training.
ese jobs varied widely, ranging from
customer service to tech support, web design,
search engine optimization, bookkeeping, data
entry, claims processing, travel/hospitality,
title searching, transcription, telehealth and
teaching. Depending on the job content,
employers require applicants to have access to
broadband at various speeds, either at home or
in a co-working center. Even more important
than speed is reliability – employers typically
look for committed rates of broadband access
rather than "best efforts" service.
Digital Works training consists of a four-
week-long class that teaches digital literacy and
