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Event Details
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Closing The Middle-Skills Gap: How Business Leaders Can Help
Joseph B. Fuller, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
The jobs market in the United States offers a number of paradoxes. Employers complain about the unavailability of skilled workers, while millions remain unemployed, underemployed, or have withdrawn from the workforce. Middle-skills jobs have attracted particular attention. By some estimates these jobs account for about half of the labor force. Historically, they represented a reliable path to the middle class. But many of those jobs have been automated out of existence, relocated offshore, or have seen their wages stagnate. In this session, Professor Fuller will discuss research on the role of businesses in closing middle-skills gaps. He will explain why the traditional definition of “middle skills” is inadequate and present a unique view of jobs data. He will argue that by adopting a broad-based focus on US competitiveness, employers, educators, and policymakers can address the skills gap and eroding standards of living.