How Low-Income Older Workers Might Gain From and Contribute to Emerging Remote Job Opportunities
About
Low-income older workers have often found themselves excluded from the significant transition to remote work, potentially depriving them of valuable opportunities for increased productivity, flexibility, and economic advancement. This paper explores strategies aimed at enhancing the accessibility of remote work for low-income older workers, aligning with the evolving economic landscape shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The surge in remote work during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic marked a significant milestone, reaching unprecedented levels in a two-decade shift away from traditional in-person full-time employment in the United States. In this paper, JFF assesses the feasibility of extending these new opportunities to individuals in lower-income positions, with a specific focus on low-income older workers. The research takes into account the unique challenges faced by this demographic:
1. Hardest hit by the COVID-19 recession,
2. Facing considerable challenges in finding and maintaining employment in general, and
3. Largely left behind by transitions to remote work.
To develop suggestions for effective pilot efforts, JFF researchers explore the targeted efforts by employers, education and training providers, and public workforce development entities required to better position low-income older workers for the remote-worker marketplace.
Major Findings and Recommendations
This paper demonstrates the potential remote work holds for low-income older workers. JFF’s recommendations include:
1. Increasing employer commitments to building a remote-ready multigenerational workforce by:
• Working closely with employers to increase the number of remote-ready opportunities, and
• Developing and providing supports, processes, and tools to identify, test, and compile to encourage broader employer hiring of low-income older workers for remote jobs across sectors and the country.
2. Equipping low-income older workers with technical and other skills to meet remote work/employer needs by developing a matrix to map potential short-term training programs and strategies to prepare low-income older workers for remote work.
3. Taking advantage of shifts resulting from COVID-19 to find remote job solutions for highly impacted low-income older workers by:
• Identifying or developing appropriate skills, interest, and assessment tools to determine level of readiness for remote work and recommend a transitional and efficient process for building needed skills, and
• Engaging sector or regional employers with a new interest in hiring remote workers and a willingness to employ low-income older workers who meet their hiring criteria.
Materials
Comments
Content Details
Methodology:
Topics:
Target Populations:
Programs:
Geographic Locations:
Industry Sectors:
- Last Updated:
- Created:
- Resource Publication Date: 2021
- Author(s): Anderson, N.; Bramson, K.; Gonzales, J.; Mannes, K.; Sullivan, F.
- Resource Availability: Publicly available
- Posted by: Damon Jones
- Posted in: Workforce System Strategies