Upskilling and Reskilling Economy: A Roadmap for Growth Issue Forum

The COVID-19 crisis has quickly accelerated the demand for skilled workers, with the World Economic Forum predicting 54% of all employees requiring significant upskilling by 2022. Add on top of that the rise of automation and AI, a familiar threat for one-quarter of American workers whose jobs are at a high risk of automation by 2030. This changing job landscape is threatening for workers who have been dislocated from their jobs by the pandemic and those who have been disenfranchised by a system that has lacked support for Black and brown workers.

For our region to inclusively recover and prosper once again, the business community must embrace this demand and set out to upskill and reskill workers from within our community. Join this conversation to learn how your business can invest in workforce development programs, to fill roles in booming sectors, and to inclusively grow our economy from within. Hear from industry experts on initiatives that are working to reskill and improve the prospects of unemployed and underemployed Philadelphians, such as the Philadelphia Skills Forward Initiative.