Washington, D.C. — A new column from the Center for American Progress and Pennsylvania’s Steel Valley Authority lays out policies that that will set the stage for robust, high-quality job creation as the country recovers from the coronavirus crisis.
In “Adjusting to a Post-Coronavirus Economy Requires Just Transitional Workforce Strategies,” the authors make the argument that worker training is not enough to ensure that the workforce has access to high-quality jobs with pay increases, access to basic employment benefits, predictable work hours, and other workforce protections. The authors lay out a series of policies that Congress and state lawmakers should enact to promote the creation of high-quality jobs including expanding workshare programs, subsidized employment, national service, and labor-management training partnership programs.
The analysis also features a case study of Pennsylvania’s Strategic Early Warning Network (SEWN) layoff aversion program, which is operated by the Steel Valley Authority. In partnership with the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the SEWN program has helped the commonwealth save more than 31,000 quality jobs over the past three decades through worksharing programs that allow employees of eligible companies to receive partial unemployment benefits if their employers reduce their hours. The analysis states that the SEWN program could be a model for federal workforce programs during the COVID-19 recovery.
“Creating high-quality jobs is essential to economic recovery,” said Livia Lam, director of Workforce Development at the Center for American Progress. “For too long the future of work has been focused on training programs, rather than ensuring that workers can access well-paid, high-quality jobs with benefits. Enacting transformational policies will help provide security and stability for workers and ultimately create a more resilient economy.
Read the column here: Adjusting to a Post-Coronavirus Economy Requires Just Transitional Workforce Strategies by Livia Lam and Thomas Croft
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