Work Disrupted

CHAPTER 10Set New Agendas: As Citizens and Communities, Reset Education, Labor Regulations, Job Transitions, and Societal Norms to Reflect Our Values

Through the [Coronavirus], we can rediscover what is possible and what we are capable of as a nation. We can use this crisis to create a better America.¹

—Anne-Marie Slaughter, lawyer, foreign policy analyst, political scientist, and public commentator

The citizen and community agendas for the future of work can start with one person. Take Yves Cooper. He was more than happy to say goodbye to his part-time gig driving a van when he landed an IT position that promised, at long last, a career path. Though highly motivated and a quick study, Cooper had been stuck in dead-end jobs. He found a way out—and up—when he gained skills that made a difference through the nonprofit Merit America, while continuing to work his day job. Merit America offers training in skills that are in high demand for the 50 million working adults without college degrees. After Cooper learned Office 365; dove into networking, security, and system administration; and earned a Google IT Certificate, he was hired for a full-time position, with benefits, as an IT helpdesk technician.² Google's professional certificate in IT automation was updated in early 2020 to include Python, the most in-demand programming language today. More than 530,000 U.S. jobs, including 75,000 entry-level jobs, require Python proficiency.³

Historically, reskilling and upskilling ...