We asked our WorkingNation Advisory Board to share their thoughts on the most important issues and challenges facing the workforce and the labor market in 2024.
Chike Aguh is the former innovation officer for the U.S. Department of Labor, where he led efforts to use data, emerging technology (AI, quantum computing, etc.), and innovative practices to advance and protect American workers.
Here are his thoughts on The Future of Work 2024.
“I think an issue that we don’t talk about enough is how the worker and the work find each other. Let’s say we’re able to figure out exactly what the work is that needs to get done, the jobs that need to be filled. Let’s say we figure out how to get workers of all stripes in all communities the work that they need.
“There is an assumption that workers will simply know where the jobs are that they’re qualified for, and we’ll just find them, and that’s that. We know that’s not how the economy works.
“We know by the data, for example, that the majority of jobs are filled without a job posting. So if you think about workers in communities without social capital who don’t have an aunt or an uncle who can hire them themselves or tell them when the job is going to get open, how will they know in the economy where there’s a job that fits their skills?
“Similarly, on the company side, people who have their jobs, how exactly do they know who has the skills? And that is a huge issue.
“That information asymmetry or, at times, the barriers around college degree, around prior incarceration that keep workers from the jobs that they can do, we have to solve those. And we don’t talk about that enough because the worker and the work will not just magically find each other.
“We have to make sure that they find each other, not just because it’s right, but because it’s smart. So that I think I’ve said a lot is that in this case, the right thing and the smart thing are the same thing. And that is very much true here.”
Read more from our WorkingNation Advisory Board members on The Future of Work 2024.
