Digital workforce study released - Tech Talk - National Policy Association's Digital Economic Opportunity Committee report - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, August 1, 2002 by Ronald Roach

WASHINGTON

The National Policy Association's Digital Economic Opportunity Committee (DEOC) released its final report, "Building a Digital Workforce--Confronting the Crisis" recently at a Washington news briefing. The report says that action by Americans to close the information technology (IT) skills gap in the current and future work force is a critical challenge for business, labor, education, government and the nonprofit sector.

This report sets out the DEOC's findings and recommendations for increasing the number of U.S. workers with IT skills. The report also includes examples of IT-related work-force development programs, many in a labor-management context, that illustrate how the recommendations can be implemented. These findings and recommendations resulted from a series of nine meetings and three conferences held by the DEOC over the life of the 18-month project.

The project was made possible in part by a grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. The report can be accessed at: <www.npa1.org/Digital-Divide/ publictn.html>.