Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Young job seekers are facing tough times as they grapple with the challenges of a rapidly changing labor market.
The US unemployment rate for degree holders aged 22 to 27 is the highest it has been in a dozen years outside of the pandemic. Amidst so much economic uncertainty, companies are hesitant in adding staff. The decline in hiring is particularly affecting occupations like information technology that employ more college graduates, creating a nightmare job search for the small number of people who complete college. Not to mention the fear that artificial intelligence will replace entry-level roles.
Therefore, the Citi Foundation identified youth employability as the theme for its $25 million Global Innovation Challenge this year. The banking group’s philanthropic arm is donating half a million dollars to each of 50 groups around the world that provide digital literacy skills, technical training and career guidance to low-income youth.
“What we want to do is make sure that young people are as prepared as possible to find employment in a world that is moving really fast,” said Ed Skylar, the city’s head of enterprise services and public affairs.
Employer feedback suggested to Citi that early career applicants lacked the technical skills needed for the roles that many had long prepared to fill, highlighting the need for continued vocational training and the importance of soft skills.
Skylar pointed to the World Economic Forum’s recent survey of more than 1,000 companies, which together employ millions of people. The skills gap was identified as the biggest barrier to business transformation over the next five years. Two-thirds of respondents reported that they plan to hire people with specific AI skills and 40% of them anticipate eliminating jobs that can be completed by AI.
Some of Citi’s grant recipients are responding by teaching people how to motivate AI chatbots to do tasks that can be automated. But Skyler stressed that it is equally important that City funds efforts to provide AI with the qualities it lacks, such as teamwork, empathy, judgment and communication.
“This is not a one-size-fits-all effort where we think every youth should be able to code or interface with AI,” Skylar said. “One thing that is consistent across all programs is that we want to develop soft skills.”
Recipients also include NPower, a national nonprofit that seeks to improve economic opportunity in underinvested communities by making digital careers more accessible. Most of their students are young adults between the ages of 18 and 26.
Robert Vaughn, Npower’s chief innovation officer, said the city grant will at least double the spots available in a program for “green students” with no technical background and many times without a college degree.
In keeping with the tech industry’s constantly changing requirements for skills and certification, he said, applicants need to demonstrate broad capabilities in both cloud computing and artificial intelligence, as well as project management and emotional intelligence.
As some entry-level roles become automated and outsourced, Vaughn said companies are not necessarily looking for college degrees and specialized skill sets, but rather AI comfort and general aptitude.
“Now it’s about being more competent than just being an isolated, silent technical person,” he said. “You really have to be a customer service person.”
Per Scolus, a tuition-free technology training nonprofit, is one of the grantees announced Tuesday. Its president, Caitlin Brazil, said the funding will help develop careers for approximately 600 young adults los angeles, new yorkorlando, chicago and the greater Washington, DC area.
To keep her classes relevant, she spends a lot of time strategizing with small businesses and large enterprises. Citi’s focus on youth employability is particularly important, she said, as she often hears that AI’s productivity gains have forced companies to rethink entry-level roles.
The decline in early career opportunities has forced workforce development nonprofits like them to provide enough practical training to secure jobs that previously required a lot of experience.
“But if there’s no bottom rung on the ladder, it’s really hard to jump up, isn’t it?” Brazil said.
He warned that failing to develop new career paths could harm the economy in the long run by preventing young people from pursuing high-growth careers.
Brookings Institution Senior partner Martha Ross said Citi was certainly right to focus on technology’s disruption to the labor market. But he said the scale of that disruption is “too big for philanthropy” alone.
“We haven’t handled previous displacements well because of automation,” Ross said. “We’ve left a lot of people behind. And now we have to decide whether we’re going to repeat that.”
,
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits is supported through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.