Toward an Inclusive Recovery

While no one could have anticipated the depth and breadth of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy, the structural inequities magnified across public health, employment, and access to critical resources are all too familiar for many Americans. The crisis threatened lives—including an unequal burden of illness and death among Blacks, indigenous people, and people of color—and the livelihoods of our communities. The temporary shuttering of businesses caused record numbers of unemployed Americans to seek emergency support to pay their bills and feed their families. No industry was immune. Some sectors, ranging from health care to transportation to grocery stores, were deemed essential, as frontline workers provided the goods and services that kept the country functioning during a pandemic. Workers of color—particularly Black and Latinx workers—were overrepresented in frontline jobs and held a disproportionate share of jobs in sectors where telework was not possible. Some of the jobs lost or furloughed due to the pandemic will simply not come back, as small businesses struggle to remain afloat and the outlook on how long it will take businesses to return to normal grows more uncertain. Skills and reemployment policies as well as public investment in job creation are a critical part of our response to the largest economic downturn in the past century. It will be necessary to ensure employment opportunities for workers most affected by the health crisis and its economic impact: people of color, those without a high school diploma, and those individuals who were already disconnected from work or school prior to the downturn. And that must be done in an inclusive way that recognizes the structural racism that has held back the full participation and success of Black, Latinx, Native American, and other workers of color in education and training programs and long-term economic prosperity. In early September, National Skills Coalition released Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: A Call for Action, Equity, and Accountability to respond to the current moment. Getting to an inclusive economic recovery will require, in part, better data and transparency on who benefits in economic recovery policies. It will also entail working toward shared accountability among organizations and leaders in Washington, DC, to do what is right for U.S. workers, businesses, and communities.