Issues impacting immigrants in the United States have elevated beyond the need for a task force. The Biden administration has the opportunity to lead on immigrant inclusion from the outset of its term. Therefore, the White House should establish an Office of New Americans (ONA), housed within the Executive Office of the President. This new Office would be responsible for coordinating immigration-related policy across the federal government. It would also support the adoption and replication of effective immigrant inclusion policies developed at state and local levels.

Immigration Policy and Immigrant Inclusion Policy: What’s the Difference?

Immigration policy governs who is allowed to enter the United States, under what conditions, how long they may stay, and what legal status they have. The U.S. has passed myriad immigration laws over the past two centuries, including major reforms in 1965, 1986, and 1996.

While these decisions are crucially important, they do not constitute the whole of any person’s experience in the United States. In addition, they are typically governed by the Judiciary Committees in Congress and by the Department of Homeland Security and State Department in the executive branch.

In contrast, very little legislation on immigrant inclusion policy has been introduced to date. Instead, Congress and the White House have left the process of incorporating newcomers largely to chance, with some interventions by states, localities, and nonprofit organizations, but no broader federal strategy. Nor has there been any major federal investment of resources; with the exception of very modest funding for English language learning and refugee resettlement, the federal government does not provide dedicated funds for immigrant inclusion activities.

Yet immigrant inclusion is vital to the health of American society and to ensuring an inclusive economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic and recession. Cabinet departments as varied as Education, Labor, Commerce, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) all have a role to play in supporting immigrant skill-building and economic flourishing. Without a federal ONA, there is no agency playing an “air traffic control” role among these many departments.

A “Skills for New Americans” Initiative

Immigrants and refugees – and the communities they live and work in – deserve equitable access to education and workforce opportunities. A key component of a new federal Office of New Americans would be to support immigrant skill-building, ideally through a “Skills for New Americans” initiative that would ensure these workers are fully incorporated in every aspect of adult education and workforce development policy.

Replicating local immigrant inclusion success at the federal level

Well-resourced adult education and workforce development policies can connect immigrants to skill-appropriate roles. Correspondingly, American businesses gain a larger pool of skilled workers for jobs they’ve had trouble filling in the past. Realizing this, in recent years many states and localities have taken a more active public policy approach to immigrant inclusion.

This local success proves that intentional, well-crafted policies can help immigrants and our wider communities thrive, both economically and socially. A federal Office of New Americans should incorporate best practices from the state and local level into federal immigrant inclusion strategies.

Coordination across the administration

A Skills for New Americans initiative could begin this work immediately through existing federal government programs, such as by:

• Working with the Department of Labor (DOL) to issue guidance to local workforce boards based on newly established best practices.
• Working with the Department of Education to increase capacity for federally funded adult education programs. In turn, these programs would improve and increase workforce development access for immigrant workers.
• Ensuring immigrant populations are targeted or made a priority for federal discretionary grants in workforce development and education.

Tackling digital literacy gaps

The Covid-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on the importance of digital skills for America’s workers. Unfortunately, a disproportionate number of immigrants and English learners face digital literacy gaps. Ensuring these workers have access to in-demand technological skills is vital to federal immigrant inclusion work. Additionally, immigrant communities need access to broadband and digital devices to participate in training and upskilling programs. Expanding digital literacy programs that are inclusive of immigrant workers should be a top concern for the Office of New Americans.

Immigrant inclusion has public and institutional support

A wide array of constituent groups will welcome a federal Office dedicated to immigrant inclusion, including:

• Higher education institutions, particularly those serving substantial numbers of immigrant learners
• Labor unions and labor-management training partnerships
• Immigrant advocacy organizations at the national, state, and local levels
• Immigrant service providers, such as adult education organizations, refugee resettlement agencies, etc.

An ONA could also garner support from advocates for marginalized job seekers of all backgrounds. Breaking down institutional barriers to employment is a shared goal. Immigrant inclusion must be part of an intentional strategy to provide all of these communities with meaningful access to education and training.

The need for federal coordination is as inevitable as it is necessary. As mentioned, this important work is already happening at lower levels of government. Approximately seven states nationwide have their own Office of New Americans, and roughly thirty cities have established mayoral Offices of Immigrant Affairs. The ability to coordinate at the national level will only become more critical as these Offices expand and multiply.

Take Action: Contact the White House today

This is an important moment for the futures of our local businesses and economies, our recovery, and immigrant workers across the country. Contact the White House today and urge the Biden Administration to establish an Office of New Americans.

Pictured: President Joe Biden prepares to sign a number of Executive Orders on his first day in Office (WH.gov)

The post The White House needs an Office of New Americans to coordinate on immigrant inclusion appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

Learn more about Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: https://nationalskillscoalition.org/covid19

The post Listen to Skilled America Podcast Episode 9: Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

The deeply inequitable consequences of this economic crisis for Black, Latino, Indigenous, and other communities of color, for immigrants, and for people with a high school diploma or less lay bare our nation’s history. A history of structural racism that kills people of color and robs them of their livelihood. A history of public policies that undermine the aspirations of working people who want to train for a better job. A history of economic recovery strategies that pick winners and losers rather than creating real pathways to prosperity for everyone.

But today, as the NSC Board, we come to you in a spirit of hope, responsibility, and determination with the release of Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: A Call for Action, Equity, and Accountability. This call to action offers a vision for the role that skills policy can play in an inclusive recovery. A recovery in which workers and businesses most impacted by this recession, as well as workers previously held back by structural barriers of discrimination or opportunity, are empowered to equitably participate in and benefit from economic expansion and restructuring.

Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery will guide our coalition’s work over the next two years. And over the coming months, we will share actionable legislative agendas and in-depth policy solutions that achieve the goals we put before you today. Solutions that state and federal policymakers can run with. Solutions based on the experience and expertise of our member businesses, labor-management partnerships, community organizations, community colleges, and education and workforce experts. Solutions that will require your advocacy to make them real.

America cannot train its way out of an economic crisis, nor can skills policy shoulder alone the weight of a more inclusive economy. Inclusive skills policy on its own will not dismantle structural racism, bring economic security to every worker, or ignite sustainable growth for every small business. A web of policies and practices contributes to these goals. But skills policy has an essential role to play and must be part of our nation’s path forward.

So it’s with a sense of hope, responsibility, and determination that we ask you to walk with us on this path and shape this journey.

In solidarity,

Andy Van Kleunen, CEO and Board member, along with the rest of the NSC Board

The post Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: A Call for Action, Equity, and Accountability appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

As states reopen and jobs in sectors with high concentrations of women workers are returning, working mothers will see increased pressure while trying to balance work, childcare, and school schedules that are contingent on when and if the coronavirus spreads. And the situation may be dire for permanently displaced women – especially low-income workers – who need to prioritize housing and food security needs of their families above reentering the job market.

An inclusive economic recovery must prioritize investments in education and training tied to labor market demand – and the necessary support services – to connect displaced women to the upskilling needed to fully compete in the economy’s restructuring and expansion.

Just the facts, ma’am

One story that emerged during the Great Recession was the disproportional economic impact on men, as job losses battered the manufacturing and construction sectors, which traditionally employ male-dominated occupations. The current recession is trending in the opposite direction, a phenomena not seen in economic downturns in the United States. When many state stay-at-home orders temporarily closed businesses in April 2020, women (age 20 and over) saw a peak unemployment rate at 15.5 percent, compared to 13.0 percent for men, on a seasonally adjusted basis. While unemployment rates for both men and women have trended downwards in recent months, the impact of this recession – and subsequent recovery – for women will be closely studied for years to come.

Here are some workforce trends experienced by women during this pandemic and recession:

• Unemployment rates for Black women and Latino women continue to trend higher than white women. As of July, rates for Black and Latino women (age 20 and over) were 14.1 and 14.4 percent, respectively, compared to a 10.3 percent unemployment rate for white women. Research shows that Latino women are heavily represented in sectors that were most impacted by pandemic shutdowns.

• A similar trend exists for foreign born women, whose monthly unemployment rates are trending four percentage points higher than native born women – 14.7 percent versus 10.7 percent in July. Of note here is the disparity between foreign born men and women: the unemployment rate for foreign born men (10.7 percent) is just one percentage point higher than the rate for native born men (9.5 percent).

• While some jobs held by women have retuned – most notably in the leisure and hospitality sector – working hours and income, by extension, have not. One in four women worked part-time in July but wanted full-time work. Prior to the pandemic this rate was one in ten.

• Overall, women make up about 39 percent of frontline workers and are highly concentrated in health care practitioner and support occupations. Women also hold a large percentage of cashier positions in retail and grocery stores. It is especially important to note that workers of color hold a majority share of the health care support jobs, and nearly one in four health care support workers are single mothers.

• Women (41 percent) were more likely than men (31 percent) to have teleworked because of the pandemic in May, the first month this data point was available. By July, these percentages had fallen and narrowed: 29 percent for women and 24 percent for men. In general, workers with higher levels of education have a greater ability to telework during this pandemic.

• For parents, working from home also requires balancing childcare needs – nearly 40 percent of workers who teleworked because of the pandemic in May had children under 18. While the data do not allow us insight into who is providing extra childcare, women, on average, spend more hours per day caring for children. And recent analysis by the Census Bureau points to three in ten women aged 25 to 44 who were not working in mid-July due to COVID-19 related childcare issues.

• Short- and long-term dislocation of women from jobs will also impact their future career trajectories and earnings. One research study estimates that for women the average earnings loss during a recession amounts to 3.3 years of pre-displacement earnings.

We’re facing an unprecedented confluence of events that has resulted in a disproportionate impact on job loss among occupations that employ more women. This occupational segregation, particularly for women of color in lower earning positions, is an important racial equity lens to bring to skills investments. Some sectors where women are majority job holders have low potential for automation, while also lacking lack skill development and career advancement opportunities.

Take action

September is national Workforce Development Month, a recognition that the education, training, and career advancement of our workforce allows the United States to remain competitive in an international economy. This year, the need for skills investments is critical to helping those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and to jumpstart the halting recovery for women.

Skill policies that broaden the infrastructure talent pipeline by supporting workers’ success (BUILDS Act) and sector partnerships that center apprenticeship and other work-based learning strategies (PARTNERS Act) can help all workers, especially women, succeed in 21st century careers. And access to wrap-around services, including high-quality childcare, are essential for young mothers to fully participate in retraining opportunities.

Make your voice heard: investments in our public workforce system must uplift the voices of displaced women workers so they can be a full part of an inclusive economic recovery.

The post Workforce Update: A Balancing Act for America’s Working Women appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

Immigrants comprise one in six American workers, and English learners make up one in ten workers. Most immigrants are non-White, and this trend is expected to continue well into the future, with Asian and Latinx immigrants making up the largest shares of new Americans. English learners are similarly likely to be people of color.

As the pandemic has once again demonstrated, workers of color are disproportionately vulnerable to layoffs and pay cuts.

Expanding career pathways for people of color and supporting their advancement along these pathways are necessary precursors to achieving positive economic outcomes. This includes ensuring that workers recently displaced because of the pandemic have equitable opportunities to build their skills and prepare for in-demand jobs as the US labor market continues to adjust to a post-pandemic reality.

The need for public policy solutions

The ethnic and racial diversity of the residents of the United States is one of our country’s unique strengths. However, Black, Latinx, Pacific Islander, Native, and certain Asian American workers face wide racial inequities in educational attainment, employment, and income. A significant percentage of these individuals are also immigrants or English learners.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has drawn renewed attention to these inequities, they existed long before the pandemic. The US has fueled these disparities through decades of intentional, structurally racist policies. As long as these inequities exist, our country is undercutting its own economic competitiveness: Racial workforce diversity is a key driver of America’s economic growth, as it is one of the most important predictors of business sales revenue, customer numbers, and profitability.

Because public policy decisions have played a key role in forming racial inequities, policies must also be an integral part of the solution. Now is the time to adjust workforce policies and craft new ones to ensure that every person in our country has a fair shot at achieving economic stability and success.

Key recommendations for policy change

The policy solutions highlighted in the Roadmap: Special Edition cover the following topic areas:

• Education and workforce data systems
• Policy and program infrastructure and technical assistance
• Upskilling for workers with foundational skills needs, including vocational and technical English and digital literacy
• Tuition equity and other financial aid for Dreamers and others not covered by existing financial aid programs
• Permanent protection and a skills-based path to citizenship for Dreamers

For details on each of the recommendations, refer to the new publication.

The post Equitable policies for immigrants and English learners are a key driver of economic growth appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

English is essential – especially for essential workers

The Covid-19 pandemic has vividly illustrated the centrality of frontline workers to the everyday functioning of American life. Many frontline workers are immigrants and/or English language learners – not unlike the US workforce overall, in which more than one in 10 workers has limited English skills.

The proportion of English learners is much higher in certain frontline jobs, such as meatpacking and home health care. Even in ordinary times, these workers often lack opportunities for skill-building because they have irregular hours, limited time or money, or are working for a company that does not offer upskilling opportunities. Many English learners are also people of color, who face additional barriers due to longstanding structural racism and related inequities in the United States.

Yet acquiring better English skills is one of the most powerful steps a worker can take to improve their economic prospects. Data confirms that the US has a tighter connection between better foundational skills and higher earnings than many other industrialized countries.

In other words: For each bit of English that a worker acquires, their earnings are likely to increase. Research also suggests that supporting foundational skill gains among adults who start off with lower skill levels (in this case, literacy) has a more powerful effect on per-capita Gross Domestic Product and labor productivity, compared to skill gains among adults who were already at a higher level to begin with.

As policymakers determine potential avenues for workforce investment as part of an inclusive economic recovery, these findings should be front and center in decisionmaking.

What does the current landscape of adult English learning look like?

Public policies support English learning primarily through the latter two options, through federal legislation such as the Higher Education Act (HEA) and Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). Before the pandemic, the most common delivery mechanism for publicly funded English classes was a traditional in-person classroom format, though some adult and higher education providers had launched online learning options.

Since the pandemic began, an enormous percentage of adult English classes have moved to some form of distance learning. Federal agencies have provided preliminary guidance to support this transition, while several national organizations have worked to support program administrators’ and instructors’ professional development needs.

During this time, it has become vividly clear that English and digital literacy skills are more closely intertwined than many had previously grasped. Workers who lack English skills are hampered in finding their way to the online learning opportunities that are their best (and often only) option for upskilling during the pandemic, many of which require at least some fluency in written English.  Meanwhile, those who lack digital skills are prevented from accessing timely and even life-saving training opportunities that can prepare them for working in a Covid-transformed world.

Conversely, workers who have the opportunity to develop both their English and technology-related skills can see a double win: improving their employability and earning power now, while also building skills to access future online upskilling opportunities.

To this end, policymakers and advocates alike can learn from “early adopter” organizations that have been already providing technology-enabled English language learning programs, and can use that information to respond to the unprecedented re-employment and re-skilling challenge the US now faces.

What can innovative English learning look like?

National Skills Coalition spoke with leaders in the education and educational technology fields to better understand emerging models for effective English language learning, especially those that feature digital learning components and well-developed connections to local businesses’ talent development needs.

The examples highlighted in the Amplifying Impact report are a few of the models that reflect promising practices in this rapidly evolving corner of the adult education field. Importantly, each of them reflect blended models that incorporate online elements (and in some cases can be transformed into fully online models).

In addition to helping learners build digital skills, this approach also makes English skill-building opportunities accessible to a wider range of learners, such as those who work extended or irregular schedules, by decreasing the amount of in-person hours that are required compared to traditional classes.

Programs profiled in Amplifying Impact include:

• Washington State’s I-DEA program (Washington)
• Mobile Up! (California)
• New American Workforce (Various)
• Destination Workforce (Virginia)
• English Readiness (Various)

In addition, while logistical factors precluded its inclusion in the report, the English Innovations program also bears mentioning. This robust program was developed by the nonprofit One America in 2011. The model incorporates three key components: English language acquisition, digital literacy and community engagement. Outcome data show that nearly 60 percent of participants gain at least one language level in the 12-week class period, compared to 41 percent of participants in a traditional ESL model. The program has recently expanded to several other states as part of the National Partnership for New Americans’ English as a Gateway program.

How can policymakers best support expansion of effective English learning models?

As state and federal officials seek to identify effective tools to help their constituents navigate a tumultuous post-pandemic economy, English language learning models that include strong digital literacy components will be an important part of the solution.

Among the principles to keep in mind:

• Businesses are central partners in designing English programs that can effectively meet their talent needs and reliably result in career advancement for their incumbent workers.

• Digital tools are a crucial component, but cannot be the only component, of English language learning.

• Public agencies should allow providers flexibility in performance measures used to demonstrate learning outcomes.

• Models that have been successful as individual or boutique examples need deeper study to aid in future replication.

• Existing racial inequities faced by English learners of color in the US labor market have been magnified by the impact of Covid-19.

• English and digital skill-building should be supported not only by the traditional education and workforce policies such as WIOA and HEA, but also by other significant public investments.

Get more detail on each of these recommendations, plus additional recommendations for policymakers and practitioners, in the full Amplifying Impact report.

The post Amplifying Impact: Why policies that combine investments in English language and digital literacy are vital appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

The court also ordered the administration to begin accepting new applications for DACA, which would mean that some of the youngest immigrants who have “aged in” to eligibility since 2017 would now have the chance to apply. The nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute estimates that about 66,000 young people are in this category. (To apply for DACA, individuals must meet a host of requirements, including having arrived in the U.S. before their sixteenth birthday and having continuously resided in this country since June 15, 2007.) However, much remains uncertain about this portion of the ruling and more should become clear in the coming days.

The ruling is a triumph for young immigrant Dreamers who organized against strong resistance from federal officials and even some other advocates to push for the enactment of the original DACA program during the Obama administration in 2012, and who have continued organizing throughout the Trump administration’s attempts to end the program and ongoing litigation by state governments.

However, the win is temporary. The administration can still try again to end the DACA program by following the appropriate procedure. Even if federal officials do not, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton has vowed to continue litigation against it. The only path to permanent protections for Dreamers goes through Congress.

The US public overwhelmingly supports a legislative solution for Dreamers, with a recent poll showing 85 percent favor allowing these young people to stay in the United States. At least 72 percent of Fortune 500 companies employ DACA recipients, and the program enjoys widespread support among CEOs. In 2017, hundreds of business leaders signed an open letter to the Trump administration and Congressional leadership in support of DACA.National Skills Coalition has long championed a path to citizenship for young immigrant Dreamers, including DACA recipients. NSC now urges the Senate to immediately take up the Dream and Promise Act or similar legislation that would allow young people who have earned key postsecondary credentials to attain permanent legal status and citizenship.

Who are DACA recipients?

On average, DACA recipients arrived in the US at the age of 7 and have grown up in this country. As NSC documented in an earlier fact sheet, many have earned in-demand credentials. Today, there are roughly 650,000 young people with active DACA status. Collectively, their households pay $5.6 billion in federal taxes and $3.1 billion in state and local taxes.

Harvard researcher Dr. Roberto G. Gonzales has chronicled the myriad positive impacts of DACA on individual immigrants, their families, employers, and communities. His research found that DACA increased economic and social mobility for its beneficiaries. Many of the stories highlighted in his research focus on young people who earned industry-recognized credentials, such as Laura, a DACA beneficiary from Arizona who completed an eight month medical assistant training program and is now employed in the healthcare field.

Like Laura, many other DACA recipients are employed in frontline jobs helping the US respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. For example, roughly 27,000 DACA recipients work in essential healthcare occupations. An analysis by the Center for American Progress (CAP) found that states with the highest number of DACA recipients working in health care occupations were California (8,600), Texas (4,300), New York (1,700), Illinois (1,400), Florida (1,100), Arizona (1,000), and Washington (1,000).

CAP’s analysis also found that 15,000 DACA recipients are teachers. Approximately 4,700 DACA recipients work in food-related wholesale trade, and 8,800 work in food warehousing, transportation, and delivery. Finally, roughly 15,000 DACA recipients are employed in essential grocery-related occupations, such as cashiers; stockers and laborers; and supervisors.

What’s next? Implications for education and workforce

The Supreme Court ruling means that DACA recipients will continue to be eligible to work legally in the U.S. and to participate in public workforce services funded under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

DACA recipients will also continue to be eligible for WIOA Title II adult education services. (Notably, unlike Title I services, federal law does not require individuals to have work authorization to access Title II services, though a few states have imposed their own requirements.) These include adult basic education, high school equivalency, and English language classes.

As Dr. Gonzales’s research has documented, many DACA recipients have pursued postsecondary education, including both shorter-term career and technical education (CTE) and certificate programs as well as longer-term degree programs. Estimates from the nonprofit New American Economy and the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration indicate that roughly 216,000 DACA recipients and DACA-eligible individuals are currently enrolled in higher education. The Supreme Court ruling will make it easier for them to stay in school and complete their education.

While DACA holders are not eligible for federal student financial aid, some states provide financial aid to them and other Dreamers. NSC has previously called for greater state-level investment in higher education for Dreamers.

How can skills advocates take action?

Congress is the only entity that can provide permanent protections for Dreamers. Skills advocates should take action now by urging their Senators to immediately pass legislation providing a path to citizenship.

The House of Representatives has already passed a robust Dreamer bill that would provide a path to citizenship for DACA recipients and other Dreamers, as well as individuals with Temporary Protected Status. The bill is known as HR 6, the Dream and Promise Act. In early June 2020, the three lead co-sponsors of HR 6 published an op-ed in The Hill calling for action from the Senate.

Even if the Senate chooses not to take up HR 6, an alternative Dreamer bill in the Senate does have bipartisan support. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), both longtime advocates for Dreamers, are lead sponsors of the Dream Act of 2019, S. 874. While the bill is somewhat different from the House bill, it does include NSC’s recommended skills-related pathway to citizenship.

Take action now by contacting your Senators.

The post Good news for immigrant Dreamers from the Supreme Court, now Congress should act appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

A new report from National Skills Coalition provides hard data to illustrate the uneven landscape of US workers’ digital literacy skills, and outlines opportunities to invest in digital skill-building as part of an inclusive economic recovery.

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought home the importance of digital skills for workers in virtually every industry and occupation. Throughout the United States, people are scrambling to adapt to a new reality in which paramedics are triaging patients via telehealth technology; retail workers are using customized apps to process inventory; and educators are moving their classes online. But even before the pandemic, many workers lacked the foundational digital skills necessary to quickly adapt and upskill as their jobs evolve.

Overall, nearly one in three workers lack foundational digital skills, according to the report, The New Landscape of Digital Literacy: How workers’ uneven digital skills affect economic mobility and business competitiveness, and what policymakers can do about it. In particular, 13 percent have no digital skills and 18 percent have very limited skills. Another 35 percent have achieved a baseline level of proficiency, and the final 33 percent have advanced skills. The data refers to workers ages 16-64 who were employed at the time of the survey. (For more information about the data source, see “Where does this data come from?” below.)

How are digital skills being defined?

For this report, National Skills Coalition defined four levels of foundational digital skills:

• No digital skills: People with no digital skills failed to meet one or more of the three baseline criteria to even take the full digital skills assessment: 1) prior computer use, 2) willingness to take the computer-based assessment, or 3) ability to complete four out of six very basic computer tasks, such as using a mouse or highlighting text on screen.
• Limited digital skills: People with limited digital skills can complete only very simple digital tasks that have a generic interface and just a few steps. As an example, people at this level would have a difficult time sorting email responses to an event invitation into pre-existing folders to keep track of who can and cannot attend an event.
• Proficient digital skills: People at this level would typically struggle with tasks that require the use of both generic and specific technology applications. For example, a person might not be able to complete a task involving with the use of a new type of online form, and the need to navigate across multiple pages and applications to answer the test question. This task may have multiple steps, and may require the use of tools (such as the “sort” function) to solve the problem. The person may have to identify the goal themselves, and engage in higher-level reasoning to solve the problem.
• Advanced digital skills: At this level, a person might have to make use of an online form that they are encountering for the first time. In doing so, they might have to define for themselves the goal of the problem they are solving, and use inferential reasoning in solving the problem. They might need to navigate across different online pages and applications, carry out multiple steps of a task, and evaluate the relevance of a set of items to discard distractors.

How do digital skill gaps differ by industry?

Digital skill gaps occur across all industries. However, they are especially high in the construction, transportation, and storage sectors, where fully half (50 percent) of all workers have limited or no digital skills. More than one-third of workers in several other major industries also have digital skill gaps, including retail (37 percent), hospitality (36 percent), manufacturing (35 percent) and health and social work (33 percent).

The number of workers with significant skill gaps is lower, but still concerning, in the finance, insurance, and real estate sector (where 19 percent have limited or no digital skills), and education sector (15 percent).

A full list of digital skill gaps by industry sector and broad occupational category is included in the report being released today. In addition, National Skills Coalition previously released five industry-specific fact sheets on digital literacy.

What do we know about digital skills on the job?

Many workers who have serious digital skill gaps are nevertheless employed in jobs that require them to use computers. NSC’s analysis found that fully 38 percent of workers with no digital skills have jobs that require either moderate or complex computer skills. An even higher percentage of workers with limited skills (43 percent) are employed in jobs that require moderate or complex computer usage.

Previous research on foundational skills conducted by NSC found that workers’ skill gaps are an invisible drag on productivity, and that people often spend considerable extra time and effort covering for their skill gaps or “muddling through” work tasks. Tactics include relying on help from co-workers or family members and delaying or avoiding tasks that require digital skills, among others.

A lack of skills is not just a problem for workers themselves. NSC’s new report found that one-fifth (20 percent) of workers with no digital skills are supervising other workers. Among workers with limited skills, an even higher percentage (33 percent) are supervisors. Supervisors’ own digital skill gaps can act as a productivity bottleneck that delays adoption or usage of new digital tools by entire teams.

How does fragmented knowledge affect digital upskilling approaches?

It may seem surprising that in this day and age some workers have few or no digital skills. It is important to note that many of these workers may have fragmented knowledge: That is, they may be comfortable using a mobile phone to text a photo, but not be familiar with how to operate a mouse or upload a job application.

This is particularly true for individuals who do not own a desktop or laptop computer at home (23 percent of US households fall into this category) and/or who have smartphone-only internet access—that is, they don’t have home broadband internet access. A 2019 Pew Research Center survey showed that people of color are more likely to have smartphone-only internet access, with 23 percent of Black respondents and 25 percent of Latino respondents falling into this category, compared to just 12 percent of whites.

Policymakers and advocates seeking to help these workers upskill should be careful not to underestimate their ingenuity and expertise. Leaders should ensure that workers have a voice in identifying what skill-building opportunities they need, what support is necessary to ensure their success, and how their employers can most effectively be engaged in upskilling conversations.

Understanding the phenomenon of fragmented knowledge can help leaders avoid making assumptions about who lacks digital skills and why, and which interventions can help people make bridges between the skills they have and the skills they need.

How do demographics affect digital skill gaps?

Due in large measure to structural forces in American society, digital skill gaps are closely correlated with several demographic variables. In particular, individuals with limited or no digital skills are likely to have a high school education or less; to have low earnings; and to have limited literacy skills.

Notably, younger workers are far from immune to digital skills gaps. Indeed, individuals under the age of 35 make up fully one-quarter (25 percent) of workers with no digital skills, and 29 percent of those with limited skills.

While white workers are a plurality of those with digital skill gaps, workers of color are disproportionately likely to face such gaps. Those facing barriers include both US-born workers and immigrants. NSC explores these issues at length in a recent fact sheet, Applying a Racial Equity Lens to Digital Literacy.

How can policymakers and advocates take action?

Policymakers, business leaders, educators, and workforce advocates can use the information provided in this report to inform their efforts to upskill US workers and equip employers with the skilled workforce they need.

Key steps that policymakers should take include:

• Embedding digital literacy and problem-solving skills as allowable or required activities under existing workforce development, adult education, and higher education policies
• Investing in new Digital Literacy Upskilling grants to expand access to high quality digital skills instruction that meets industry and worker needs. These grants should support the development and implementation of programs that embed digital literacy skills as part of broader occupational skills training, integrated education and training, and other accelerated learning strategies.
  • One model for this is the Digital Equity Act, now under consideration in Congress, which would create two new federal grant programs to support digital literacy.
  • At the state level, policymakers can introduce state-level legislation or an administrative policy mirroring the federal-facing Digital Equity Act, but should also provide resources and technical assistance for adult education programs that serve workers and learners. These programs are an important existing avenue for digital skill-building.
  • Incentivizing private investment in digital skills training, instruction, and upskilling opportunities for incumbent workers by expanding the scope of existing tax policies like the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) to allow employers to provide essential upskilling opportunities, both in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and over the longer term.

More detailed recommendations on how state and federal policy can support digital upskilling will be available in a future publication from National Skills Coalition, forthcoming in July 2020.

Where does the data come from?

Data used in this report comes from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Survey of Adult Skills. The US portion of the survey, also known as the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies, or PIAAC, is administered by the U.S. Department of Education.

The survey gathered data from a representative sample of U.S. adults. NSC’s analysis, conducted in collaboration with the American Institutes for Research, looked at combined 2012-14 data on US workers ages 16-64 who were employed at the time of the survey. (Learn more about AIR’s work and see other studies at the PIAAC Gateway.)

The PIAAC survey includes a cognitive assessment in English measuring the three domains of literacy, numeracy, and “problem-solving in technology-rich environments,” or PS-TRE.

Individuals described in NSC’s report as having “no” digital skills are those without PS-TRE scores; “limited” skills refers to workers with scores below PS-TRE Level 1; “proficient” refers to those who scored at Level 1, and “advanced” combines data from workers who scored at Level 2 or Level 3.

Note: An additional round of U.S. PIAAC data collection was completed in 2017. While 2017 data is not reflected in this report due to the timing of its release to the public, it is largely consistent with earlier years. Learn more about the 2017 data here: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaac/current_results.asp

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National Skills Coalition calls on ED and Congress to course correct by taking swift action to ensure all current and future students—particularly those with the greatest financial need—have access to emergency grant funding, wrap-around services and tuition assistance during this pandemic and beyond.

Non-traditional students have historically been left out of federal higher education policy and the new guidance exacerbates that trend. By reversing course, federal policymakers can ensure that vital relief is reaching students who are in urgent need—many of whom are training for or already working in essential jobs.

Congress responds with CARES Act support for postsecondary institutions and students

To help offset the costs incurred by institutions of higher education as a result of COVID-19 and ensure supportive services remain available to students, Congress authorized a $30 billion Educational Stabilization Fund as part of the CARES Act—the third stimulus bill signed into law since the beginning of March. The CARES Act carved out $15 billion of this fund to go directly to institutions of higher education (IHEs), including community and technical colleges.

The CARES Act stipulated that once IHEs received their portion of stabilization funding, they were to disperse at least half of their total allocation to students in the form of direct emergency aid—including grants to students for food, housing, course materials, technology, health care, and child care. The other half of the funding could then be used by institutions to offset the costs of technological equipment and infrastructure, loss of revenue driven by decreased enrollment and employee retention.

Problematic guidance issued by the Department of Education

Shortly after the CARES Act was signed into law, ED Secretary DeVos sent a letter to IHEs stating that each institution was permitted to set their own parameters around individual student eligibility for direct emergency aid. This flexible guidance was welcomed by educational leaders—particularly community and technical college leaders who serve a high number of non-traditional students in need of wrap-around services.

However, on April 21, the Department reversed course and issued a FAQ document about emergency financial grants to students, which rolled back these flexibilities, stating that only students who were eligible for Higher Education Act Title IV federal financial aid under current law may receive emergency funding. The guidance further states that students who are eligible for aid include those who have filed a FAFSA, are eligible to file one, and are U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens.

Adverse impact on adult and other nontraditional students

While this recent ED guidance may seem innocuous, in reality the decision to use Title IV aid as an eligibility requirement for access to emergency grants, is preventing millions of students from receiving vital pandemic-related aid.

Among the students who will not be able to receive emergency aid under ED’s new guidance are:

• Students enrolled in shorter-term programs. Notably, many community and technical college students are ineligible for Title IV aid solely due to the types of courses they are choosing to enroll in. Under current law, students are only eligible for needs-based federal financial aid, including Pell Grants, if they are enrolled in a course that is at least 600 clock hours over 15 weeks of instruction. This “seat-time” requirement often prevents students seeking high-quality, short-term education and training programs that lead to in-demand jobs from benefitting from federal tuition assistance, and will now also prevent them from receiving emergency aid.

NSC has long recognized the inequities students enrolled in short-term programs have faced and has advocated for the modernization of federal financial aid to be more responsive to the needs of today’s students.  Specifically, NSC has called on Congress to pass the JOBS Act as part of a comprehensive Higher Education Act reauthorization, which would make low-income students attending courses that are at least 150 clock hours over 8 weeks of instruction eligible for Pell grants, so long as the courses meet a number of quality assurance criteria laid out in the bill. While the JOBS Act has enjoyed bipartisan, bicameral support, it has yet to move forward in the legislative process; resulting in many underserved community college students weathering the storm of this pandemic without access to tuition assistance or federal emergency aid.

• Students with Temporary Protected Status, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)   status, or undocumented status. Hundreds of thousands of students in the US fall outside of the categories used to determine immigrant eligibility for traditional federal financial aid. Yet, these students are contributing members of their higher education communities, and many are working in essential jobs. Excluding them from emergency aid is a short-sighted decision that will have severe ripple effects on the lives and livelihoods of students themselves, as well as the enrollment numbers and economic stability of the institutions they attend.

• Working students who have been displaced from their jobs as a result of COVID-19. To qualify for needs-based Title IV Aid under the Higher Education Act, students must demonstrate financial need. Financial aid administrators use several pieces of information to determine student need including taxed and untaxed income, assets, and benefits. Students who were working full-or-part-time while enrolled in a postsecondary program prior to COVID-19 may be deemed ineligible for emergency grants based on their pre-pandemic earnings or the fact that they are now receiving Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits.

ED addressed this issue in 2009 during the Great Recession by issuing guidance to financial aid administrators that encouraged them to use their flexibility—also known as “professional judgement”—to exempt Unemployment Insurance (UI) payments from financial aid determinations. Many of today’s financial aid administrators may not remember the 2009 “Dear Colleague” letters (GEN 09-04 and GEN 09-05) and most students do not know of their ability to adjust financial aid eligibility based on their special circumstances—a reality that will leave many working students without access to emergency grants.

• Students enrolled in postsecondary programs that are fully online. According to the Community College Research Center (CCRC), almost 13% of all community college students are enrolled exclusively in distance education courses. Many of today’s students are balancing family and work obligations while working towards a postsecondary credential or degree, and online courses can provide them with increased flexibility. However, fully online students have been deemed ineligible for emergency aid based on the fact that these students did not rely on on-campus housing prior to the pandemic. This decision does not take into account the childcare, health care, and nutrition related needs of online students as they adjust to a new normal driven by COVID-19.

• Adult education students attending community colleges. Many community colleges offer programs for adult students who have not yet earned a high school credential. These students may be pursuing sequential programs that allow them to build foundational skills before processing to credit-bearing courses, or Integrated Education and Training (IET) programs that allow them to quickly master foundational skills while earning an industry-recognized credential. In either case, these students are especially vulnerable to economic shocks or other pandemic-related disruption of the educational and vocational goals. Unless they have gained access through the “Ability to Benefit” provision, most of these students are not eligible for federal financial aid, yet they are a vital part of the pipeline of essential workers and future postsecondary students. Providing them with emergency aid is essential to helping them maintain momentum.

What actions are needed now?

• The Department of Education should immediately roll back their April 21 guidance around pandemic-related emergency aid for postsecondary students. Postsecondary institution leaders have seen first-hand the adverse impact COVID-19 has had on the students they serve. To assist them in serving their most vulnerable students, ED should re-grant power to individual institutions and allow them to set their own parameters around individual eligibility for direct emergency aid, so long as these parameters advance equity and access.  
• ED should re-issue guidance to financial aid administrators, reminding them of the flexibility to exempt Unemployment Insurance (UI) payments from financial aid determinations. This flexibility was provided to financial aid offices during the Great Recession in 2009 and considering the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on today’s students, it should be quickly reinstated.
• Congress should ensure future stimulus bills include educational stabilization funding that explicitly mandates its availability to all students. As Democrats in the House work towards finalizing language for a CARES 2.0 package, policymakers in both chambers should advocate for additional educational stabilization funding that is explicitly inclusive of all students—regardless of the type of postsecondary program they are enrolled in or their immigration status.
• Congress should support more of today’s students through federal policy by:
  • Passing the Dream and Promise Act (H.R. 6). This bill, which has already been passed in the House, would ensure a sustainable pathway to citizenship for DACA, TPS and undocumented students.
  • Passing the Jumpstarting our Businesses by Supporting Students (JOBS) Act (S. 839, H.R. 3497). This bill bipartisan, bicameral bill would make students attending high-quality, short-term programs—including working adults and other nontraditional students—eligible for needs-based Pell grants.

NSC looks forward to continuing to work with Congress and the Administration to support education leaders and today’s students during this pandemic and beyond.

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As the rule goes into effect, National Skills Coalition is releasing a new fact sheet for workforce development practitioners and advocates, as well as updated versions of earlier fact sheets for adult educators and higher education advocates, in light of the ruling. The fact sheets are designed to help advocates answer questions from immigrant students and jobseekers, program staff, and others about the new rule.

Skills advocates can reduce the chilling effect of the rule by reassuring immigrants that participating in education and workforce development programs will help rather than hurt their green-card applications, even if those programs are publicly funded. In addition, education and workforce providers should prepare for a surge in requests for documentation that they may receive from current and former participants who need to demonstrate that they have completed an English class, job training program, or other learning opportunity.

What the public charge rule does

Under the rule, US officials are now going to deny green cards to individuals who are deemed likely to be dependent on the government for support. Officials will weigh a long list of positive and negative factors via a totality of circumstances test to make this determination. These include an immigrant’s age, income, English skills, educational credentials, and use of certain public benefits, among other factors.

(Get details about how immigration officers are being told to interpret the various positive and negative factors in the newly updated US Citizenship and Immigration Services Policy Manual, including the Education and Skills chapter and the totality of circumstances framework.)

In addition to the public charge test facing green card applicants, a narrower version of the test — focusing just on public benefits usage — will be applied to non-immigrants who are living in the U.S. and seeking to extend or change their visa type (e.g. from a student visa to an employment visa).

How the rule affects workforce and education advocates

As the rule takes effect, workforce and education advocates who serve immigrant adult learners and jobseekers face two urgent issues:

• The need to reassure confused and worried immigrants that participating in adult education, higher education, and workforce development programs will help them – not hurt them – in the public charge test. For example, receiving Pell Grants or participating in a program funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) will not count against immigrants. On the contrary, immigration officers will view participation in education and training as positive factors.
• The need to respond to requests from current and past immigrant students and jobseekers for documents verifying their participation in education and training programs. Programs that do not typically issue a certificate of completion or similar document will be asked to issue a letter stating that no such documents are issued by their organization or agency.

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Protection for Dreamers

National Skills Coalition has long advocated for a pathway to citizenship for the young people known as Dreamers – individuals who came to the US as children and do not have authorized status. NSC has focused in particular on ensuring that any Dreamer bill includes a pathway for those who earn postsecondary credentials such as two-year degrees, often referred to as middle-skill credentials. Many of these credentials are in demand among American employers.

The House of Representatives passed just such a bill in June 2019. The Dream and Promise Act passed with a bipartisan majority of 237-187. But the Senate has yet to act. Legislation has been introduced by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), but is currently stalled.

Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court is poised to rule on a key court case involving the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Approximately 700,000 young people – a subset of the larger group of over 2 million Dreamers – have DACA.

The Court will rule no later than June 2020. If the ruling is in favor of the Trump administration, the DACA program will end, causing DACA recipients to lose protection from deportation and the ability to obtain temporary work permits.

Regardless of the Court’s ruling, only Congress is able to provide permanent protection and a path to citizenship for Dreamers. NSC is urging its members to ask the Senate to pass the Dream and Promise Act or similar legislation.

An important note: NSC coalition partners who are closely engaged on this issue include the nonprofit United We Dream, whose immigrant members have expressed a strong concern that any “fix” for Dreamers should avoid making a legislative bargain that worsens the enforcement apparatus targeting Dreamers and their families. NSC members interested in learning more about the nuances of this complex issue can visit the UWD website.

Invest in Proven Strategies for Immigrant Workforce Integration

While federal legislation related to immigrants typically focuses on immigration policy such as how many individuals to admit to the U.S. and which types of visas to make available, Congress now has a powerful opportunity to widen its focus to include the integration of immigrant newcomers into American communities.

State and local leaders – including many NSC members – have been leading the way on immigrant integration, which has been practiced informally for decades but has really coalesced as a field in the last 10 years. Workforce and adult education policies are key elements of integration.

As legally authorized immigrants become more integrated in the U.S., they earn higher wages and can contribute more to our economy. The public workforce system can support greater integration, but currently immigrants are severely underrepresented among workers served by training programs.

Congress should pass policy that supports best practices already developed by states and localities, including partnerships with immigrant serving organizations, prior learning and credential assessments that take into account credentials earned abroad, and integrated education and training classes that teach English in an occupational context.

Legislation supporting several of these priorities was introduced by House Democrats in October 2019. NSC members are encouraging Congress to advance these priorities in 2020.

A Note on Public Charge

A recent Supreme Court ruling has cleared the way for US Citizenship and Immigration Services to implement a regulation known as the “public charge” rule. The rule makes it significantly harder for millions of immigrants who are here legally to stay in the country. It is scheduled to take effect nationwide (except in Illinois) on February 24, 2020.

NSC opposed this rule, which hurts our nation’s efforts to build a skilled workforce. (See our public comment against the rule from December 2018.) The rule also creates substantial additional burdens on adult education and workforce training providers trying to help their participants comply with its provisions.

Under the rule, US officials will deny green cards to individuals who are deemed likely to be dependent on the government for support. Officials will weigh a long list of positive and negative factors via a totality of circumstances test to make this determination. These include an immigrant’s age, income, English skills, educational credentials, and use of certain public benefits, among other factors.

Importantly, participating in English, education, and job training programs will help people meet the public charge test, since those activities help them build needed skills. Unfortunately, confusion driven by news coverage has created a chilling effect, in which many immigrants are dis-enrolling from necessary services out of fear.

Now that the rule is taking effect, skills advocates should take action in two ways:

• Disseminating accurate information to staff, jobseekers, students, and program participants. NSC has produced two fact sheets to help reduce fear and provide accurate information to advocates and participants alike. (The fact sheets were originally published in October 2019 and are still valid; they will be updated with the new effective date of the regulation shortly.)
• Educating Hill staff about the importance of education and training programs in supporting immigrant integration. This serves two purposes: Making the case for immigrant integration legislation as described above, and helping Hill staff understand why their local district staff need accurate information about the public charge to convey to immigrant constituents who may contact them with questions. Feel free to share NSC’s fact sheets with your Congresspeople!

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