Labor

About one-third of the U.S. job market is made up of middle-skill jobs, which do not require four-year college degrees. Data indicate that the number of these jobs exceeds the supply of available workers. The skills needed for these jobs include facility with the internet and computers.

On Wednesday, January 15, the House Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Communications and Technology held a hearing on diversity in the media market. In announcing the hearing, Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr.

Anne Schwieger, Boston’s broadband and digital equity advocate, explains: “Broadband is best understood as an ecology that allows places and people to adapt, evolve, and create.” But for too many people, the digital skills needed to use broadband effectively are too elusive. Governments—with nonprofits, private broadband providers, and community support—are working to ensure that broadband is not just deployed but used. That’s a multifaceted effort that depends on trust and resources.

I have a bad case of news blues. Journalism is fast becoming a vast wasteland. Newsrooms across the land are hollowed out, or in many cases shuttered.

The Federal Trade Commission this week held another set of hearings on Competition and Consumer Protection in the 21st Century. The hearings and public comment process this Fall and Winter will provide opportunities for FTC staff and leadership to listen to experts and the public on key privacy and antitrust issues facing the modern economy. The hearings are intended to stimulate thoughtful internal and external evaluation of the FTC’s near- and long-term law enforcement and policy agenda.

The Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) entered a new partnership with Ashland University (OH) to help approximately 140 incarcerated individuals, who are eligible for release within 12 months, prepare for careers in broadband and 5G this spring and summer.

Tonya Felsinger spent more than half her life working in the food service industry. She obtained her GED a few years ago, and her GED teacher and an administrator at Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology (OSUIT) encouraged her to try the school’s new fiber technician training course.

The US Treasury Department awarded Kansas $15 million for digital equity work, with the money going toward public Wi-Fi, digital skills training, and more. In addition, 20 other states have applied for digital equity funding from the same source, with other awards expected to be made soon. “Kansas is just the first of many more to come,” said Joseph Wender director of the Treasury Department's Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which is part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA).

The purpose of this study was to analyze the role of remote working enabled by a robust broadband infrastructure. The objective was to find out the effects of remote working on quality of life and in reducing emissions before and during the pandemic. We found broadband-enabled remote working to significantly increase the quality time of workers, defined as the time spent with family members. When higher remote working frequency occurs (three working days and more), the net reduction in emissions seems to prevail.

Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX) reintroduced the "Broadband Incentives for Communities Act," which creates a grant program to provide local and state governments with the resources to facilitate, modernize, and streamline broadband upgrades and deployment. In order to upgrade and expand broadband infrastructure, local governments work with private wireless companies to build out the necessary technology across communities. This requires these companies to submit zoning and permitting applications, but many wireless technology applications often do not fit the traditional governmental r