Giving Compass' Take:

• This issue brief of data-driven research shows that the skills gap is a small contributor to the broader issue of wage inequality. 

• The authors suggest that data shows labor market conditions and worker power are more substantial parts of wage inequality that a college degree will not fix. How can donors help with the structural conditions that are reinforcing wage inequality? 

• Read more about surging wage inequality in American cities. 

Relatively stagnant or declining wages for the vast majority of U.S. workers became a feature of the U.S. economy after the 1970s, along with a shift to “lousy” and low-wage jobs and rising wage and income inequality despite increasing productivity.

One of the explanations for this job-quality crisis is that not enough workers have the skills required for an increasingly digital and technologically advanced jobs market, leading to a widening gap between the rising wages of the highest-paid workers and everyone else. The concept of a skills gap was likewise blamed for high unemployment after the Great Recession ended in July 2009 and is now cited as the key challenge facing low-wage workers amid the current coronavirus recession. The proposed solutions to closing this apparent gap center around education and training for low-wage workers, often with a focus on getting more workers to obtain college degrees, so they can fill these high-wage, high-demand jobs.

elatively stagnant or declining wages for the vast majority of U.S. workers became a feature of the U.S. economy after the 1970s, along with a shift to “lousy” and low-wage jobs and rising wage and income inequality despite increasing productivity.

One of the explanations for this job-quality crisis is that not enough workers have the skills required for an increasingly digital and technologically advanced jobs market, leading to a widening gap between the rising wages of the highest-paid workers and everyone else. The concept of a skills gap was likewise blamed for high unemployment after the Great Recession ended in July 2009 and is now cited as the key challenge facing low-wage workers amid the current coronavirus recession. The proposed solutions to closing this apparent gap center around education and training for low-wage workers, often with a focus on getting more workers to obtain college degrees, so they can fill these high-wage, high-demand jobs.

Read the full article about wage inequality by Kathryn Zickuhr at Equitable Growth.