70 million American workers – more than half the country’s labor force – have valuable skills but not a bachelor’s degree. Opportunity@Work – a national organization advancing skills-first hiring solutions – calls them “the backbone of the U.S. economy.”
“Their economic mobility is key to national prosperity,” Opportunity@Work says. “But for the past several decades, STARs (people Skilled Through Alternative Routes other than a bachelor’s degree) have been blocked by a paper ceiling, losing access to the jobs that have traditionally provided them mobility opportunities. Workers find themselves stuck in jobs even as they demonstrate the skills for higher-wage work. At the same time employers struggle to fill in-demand roles. This unnecessary scarcity benefits no one.”
It is possible for new state and federal government policies to do more to support these workers, which in turn supports the economy. In October, Opportunity@Work put out a policy agenda, a road map governments can use to build a more equitable labor market.
It focuses on three key areas:
- Promoting skills as the key measure of value in hiring and advancement.
- Building a skills-based talent ecosystem aligned across public and private sectors.
- Expanding access to lifelong learning and career mobility for STARs.
It’s an ambitious agenda that, if enacted, could have a significant positive impact on workers, employers, and the economy as a whole.
California is already a leader in this area, as one of the more than 30 states and many cities and counties that have begun to roll back unnecessary degree requirements for public sector jobs. California Governor Gavin Newsom has also ordered the development of a Master Plan for Career Education in California to make sure workers have access to the skills they need to fill important jobs.
The Chancellor’s Office of the California Community Colleges (CCC) system also released its Vision 2030 roadmap, aligned with the Master Plan, calling for the state’s community colleges to increase their focus on serving non-traditional students, like working-age adults.
As CCC Chancellor Dr. Sonya Christian said: “This is time for us to double down on our commitment to California’s working adults, to our low-income adults, to the diversity of our populations. Because our commitment is to each and every Californian, not to some. To each and every one. So we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
One of California’s most innovative approaches to supporting STARs, non-traditional students, and working-age adults in the labor market is the founding of Calbright College, a statewide online community college which is emerging out of its “start-up” period this year.
Calbright is designed to be accessible to all Californians, from every walk of life. It’s free, online, and flexible – so students can enroll, take classes, and study wherever they are, on their own schedules, and at their own pace. Right now Calbright has students in 57 of California’s 58 counties.
Calbright is also designed to be career focused. Instead of traditional degrees that take years to earn, it offers certificates aligned with key skill sets that employers are hiring for, which can be earned in just months. It also offers career counseling and job search support – again, for free – allowing students to align their education with their job search.
“The establishment of Calbright was a visionary endeavor and it was a signal by the state of California saying that we’ve got to start building a structure where every Californian has an opportunity to get to higher education,” Chancellor Christian said. She called Calbright “The only – let me repeat that – the only college in a system that is a statewide college taking on very difficult problems we haven’t solved before and systematically solving problems with such detailed work.”
California is proving that a policy agenda like Opportunity@Work’s can succeed, and that education innovation can be a key part of it. We can reimagine college, and make an economy that’s better for everyone.
