Kevin Mills

Head of Government Partnerships, Coursera 

In 2021, I wrote about the historic mismatch between the workforce and the skills demands of industry and employers. Essentially, in many sectors and fields, there are plenty of jobs available, but a shortage of workers qualified to fill those jobs. This trend continues to grow and has been brought into even sharper relief by recent studies. 

My team at Coursera has worked with public sector leaders representing over 100 countries and states including New York, California, and Louisiana to support large-scale workforce development programs which create pathways to good jobs. Based on discussions with these customers, and skills trends surfaced in the Global Skills Report 2022, we explore how forward-thinking workforce development and business leaders can transform this challenge into an opportunity in our recent publication: The Great Reskilling.  

Here, I offer four reasons to prioritize reskilling workers in your community with a specific focus on digital skills– critical competencies demanded more each passing year within the modern, digital economy.  

#1: Digital skills give workers more stable and better-paid employment options 

Digital transformation is impacting every sector, worldwide, displacing some jobs and creating others. 

One study of eight selected countries estimated that 100 million workers within those economies will need to secure a role in a different field by 2030 due to changing workplace trends. In the US and EU, one in three workers has no or few digital skills. This skills deficit, often accompanied by deficits in learning and training access, is a massive barrier which prevents untold millions of people from filling and thriving within roles crucial to our economies and societies. 

Investing in digital reskilling provides job seekers with access to in-demand roles; once job seekers land digital roles, they are likely to see an increase in wages. 

#2: Digital skills provide a better chance of career progression 

Digital skills can open the door to middle-and-higher-wage “gateway jobs” that can themselves, in turn, lead to advanced career pathways. Gateway jobs appear in a variety of industries, from healthcare to education, transport, and manufacturing. A study on the US labor market estimates that gateway jobs are expected to make up around 20% of estimated employment growth in the short term. 

This trend will only pick up speed as years progress. Around 68% of executives have stressed that they plan to accelerate their investment in AI and automation. And—as remote working and online interaction become more widespread—executives expect digital tools, e-commerce platforms, and digital supply chain platforms to play an even greater role in our working lives. 

Workforce development programs are increasingly helping job seekers advance their careers through the acquisition of these in-demand digital skills. Take for instance how the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) recently partnered with Coursera to launch “Tech Ready Louisiana,” a program that will bring free online learning to thousands of people across the state to help with career readiness. 

In the words of Ava Cates, Secretary of the Louisiana Workforce Commission: “This is about giving Louisianians the opportunity to learn new, marketable skills to advance in their current job or get the career they’ve always wanted.” 

#3: Digital skills training offers opportunities to reduce inequality 

Racial and gender inequality remain enormous issues in the domestic and global workforce. In the US, a disproportionate number of women and people of color find themselves in low-wage roles vulnerable to changes in the labor market. Training in digital skills could help reduce racial and gender equity gaps by moving workers into gateway roles with better employment prospects. 

According to our Global Skills Report, 47% of people enrolled in Coursera courses are women, up from 38% two years ago. The US is leading this shift, with the greatest proportion of women learners in the world. In relation to the skills needed for digital roles, the enrollment of women in STEM courses within the US has increased from 35% in 2019 to 42% at the end of 2021. 

A report recently published by the International Finance Council (IFC) in partnership with Coursera and the European Commission found that one in five women who reported career benefits from online learning also reported a rise in income after taking online courses. Among this subset, 40% reported an increase of 10% or more. 

To create this report, Coursera and IFC analyzed data from nearly 100 million learners on the platform and surveyed nearly 10,000 learners in Egypt, India, Mexico, and Nigeria. The report focuses on emerging economies, but reflects the impact that workforce development programs can have for women, and other disadvantaged groups, anywhere, including in the United States. 

#4: Digital skills training makes financial sense for employers 

Employers are facing two major challenges: they are struggling to retain staff and finding it expensive to recruit new candidates. Workforce development leaders can bolster their regional economies by investing in reskilling programs that support employers. 

Replacing existing workers is not cheap. According to Gallup, the process can cost as much as twice the employee’s annual salary. Additionally, onboarding a new employee takes time and resources. 

Reskilling projects empower organizations to close skills gaps, reach more learners, and encourage workers to embrace lifelong learning. For example, the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) worked with Coursera and the national government to help 23,000 Costa Ricans enroll in online courses. 

CINDE works with more than 350 companies—employing 134,000 people—to find talent for open roles. CINDE collaborated with employers and government agencies to identify the key skills employers needed, which enabled Coursera to deliver the learning resources needed to help workers meet those needs. Learners were provided with curated courses designed for specific career pathways, and these resources allowed companies to shave weeks off the standard training times. 

Paola Bulgarelli, CINDE’s lead on Strategic Projects for Investment Climate, said that technology, computing, and data science courses were particularly vital for building the talent pool. She added that the project helped demonstrate the importance of continuous learning, which offers workers “a path to new opportunities and stability—and eventually to landing their dream job.” 

Closing Thoughts  

In reviewing stories like those of CINDE, I’m reminded of a recent conversation I had with Dr. Kenyatta Lovett, Managing Director for Higher Education at Educate Texas, about the “public-private” partnerships that are needed to drive reskilling at scale. 

“Workforce development now is not necessarily a separate stream from higher education,” said Dr. Lovett. “You have to consider both of them [for] the long-term success of all citizens—not just in this nation but across the world.” 

Digital reskilling should be embraced wholeheartedly. Every skills deficit is also an opportunity to bolster the workforce and pursue lasting prosperity. Building a talented workforce is a process which happens across sectors, mediums, and methods, especially in the digital age, which is demanding new skills just as quickly as it is changing the nature of working, workplaces, and society.