Microsoft Aims to Train 25 Million Workers Free in 2020
June 30 2020 - 11:29AM
Dow Jones News
By Lauren Weber
Microsoft Corp. will provide free online classes and job-hunting
resources to 25 million people by the end of the year as the global
economy reels from the coronavirus pandemic.
The training, available to workers around the world, is designed
to teach digital skills Microsoft says people need to enter 10
occupations, such as help-desk technician, digital marketer and
data analyst. Microsoft, in concert with data from its LinkedIn
business, chose the 10 jobs because demand for them is growing and
they pay well relative to other roles and most of the jobs have the
potential to provide opportunities for those with or without a
college degree, the company said.
The effort is a response to two long-term trends, said Brad
Smith, Microsoft's president: Automation and artificial
intelligence are changing the skills required for nearly every
occupation, so workers without digital skills will fall further and
further behind. At the same time, employer investments in training
and education have declined or stagnated over the past two
decades.
Skills training in recent years has moved increasingly online,
as providers of online classes, such as LinkedIn Learning, Udacity,
Coursera and others, have emerged. They offer accessibility and
often lower cost to individuals and employers than traditional
education options. But employers in many cases remain resistant to
accepting online credentials in place of work experience or degrees
from accredited academic programs.
When Microsoft executives were planning the initiative early in
the year, they saw the effort as a response to a widening skill gap
and the evolution of new technologies. Then the new coronavirus
arrived.
"Everything we envisioned when 2020 began has accelerated more
quickly than we imagined. That leaves a short-term challenge of
truly daunting proportions," said Mr. Smith, who called the
training plans "the largest skills initiative" in the company's
history. Even when Covid-19 is in the rearview mirror, he added,
equipping individuals with work skills "will remain an extremely
important priority for companies like us and for the economy as a
whole."
The announcement comes as multiple corporations step up their
investments in job training for their own employees and in their
communities. While early commitments were made in direct response
to the coronavirus-related economic downturn, social upheaval
related to George Floyd's death at the hands of police spotlighted
the broader persistence of economic inequality in the U.S.
Earlier this month, Bank of America said that job training and
career reskilling would be one of four focus areas for $1 billion
in funding for economic-opportunity initiatives over the next four
years. Also in June, the Walmart Foundation donated $6 million to
Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit dedicated to identifying and
scaling successful workforce-development programs. Microsoft's
commitment includes $20 million in grants to organizations that
will support and assist people using the free resources, including
$5 million to organizations serving communities of color.
"We're seeing a number of leading companies making tangible
dollar and policy commitments," said Maria Flynn, chief executive
of Jobs for the Future. Beyond the money, what will also be
critical is "how they respond in terms of hiring practices,
assessing talent, and investing in workers."
Microsoft will give users access to LinkedIn content for
"learning paths" corresponding to the 10 jobs through the end of
2020. Employers will likely expect a candidate to have a college
degree for some of the roles, and the online training will add
digital skills to build on education they already have, the company
said. For some, the online training will add digital skills to
build on education they already have. The paths require from five
hours to more than 30 hours to complete, and additional content is
available for the more technical roles through GitHub and
Microsoft.
The classes are available in English, Spanish, French and
German, and the content comes from Microsoft and two companies it
owns: LinkedIn and GitHub, a network on which software developers
and other tech professionals gather to share code, post profiles
and learn skills. Users will then be able to take discounted exams
to earn certificates in their chosen fields.
Microsoft identified the 10 jobs by analyzing job postings,
profiles, geographic data and other information on LinkedIn.
LinkedIn calls its massive data set the "economic graph," and is
pledging to make data and analysis from the product available to
governments so they can better plan for local labor-market
needs.
The plan provides some benefits to Microsoft as well. The 25
million users may well register on LinkedIn, though that is not
required to access many of the classes and benefits. Some of the
training will focus on learning Microsoft's own software
programs.
Write to Lauren Weber at lauren.weber@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 30, 2020 11:14 ET (15:14 GMT)
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