COMING TOGETHER
TRAINING DISPLACED WORKERS KEY TO GETTING AMERICANS BACK TO WORK & STIMULATING THE ECONOMY By CINNAMON ROGERS Every community across the country has been impacted by COVID-19. We applaud the frontline workers, government officials and families across the country for doing their part. We are so proud of the amazing good works coming from our member companies (see our Tech for Good resource here) and also of how CompTIA’s training and certifications are providing American workers displaced by this pandemic with new and upgraded skills to get a great job in the IT sector. By giving people a pathway to a job in the tech sector, we are helping fill an urgent need for trained and certified professionals. More than 300,000 tech jobs were added in 2019 and the demand will only grow after this pandemic ends. That’s because, as we’ve witnessed throughout this crisis, trained and qualified IT professionals are
vitally important to healthcare professionals, first responders, educators, students and government officials to keep us safe, secure and informed. And at a time when unemployment numbers are skyrocketing, jobs in IT are far more stable. The average U.S. unemployment rate was nearly double the unemployment rate of IT occupations last year, and we saw more than 800,000 tech job postings in emerging tech. We anticipate a greater need in the coming weeks, months and years as businesses become more reliant on technology in the aftermath of coronavirus. In addition to CompTIA’s advocacy on behalf of the IT sector, our nonprofit organization has educated and certified nearly 3 million workers in cybersecurity, networking, cloud computing and technical support since our certification program launched in 1992.
RIPON FORUM May 2020
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