Findings

Congress finds the following: (1) Analysis by the National Skills Coalition and the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta finds that 92 percent of jobs require digital skills while 1/3 of workers do not have the foundational digital skills necessary to enter and succeed in today’s jobs. Further, for businesses, turnover costs (estimated at $25,000 when a worker quits within the first year to more than $78,000 after 5 years) can be averted or delayed by ensuring that workers have access to key upskilling opportunities. (2) Per a survey of 69 business owners in key industries in North Carolina conducted by the North Carolina Broadband Office and North Carolina Business Committee on Education, more than a quarter of responders indicated that their business has lost competitive advantage due to a shortage of digital skills. (3) According to United States data from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Survey of Adult Skills, workers of color are disproportionately likely to face digital skills gaps due to longstanding inequities. For example, Black workers comprise 12 percent of overall workers but represent 15 percent of the subset of workers who have no digital skills and 21 percent of those with limited digital skills. Latino workers (who may be of any race) are 14 percent of overall workers but represent a full 35 percent of workers with no digital skills and 20 percent of those with limited digital skills.