The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated job displacement and unemployment trends—in California and across the country—precipitated by advancements in technology and automation. Although these disruptive forces impacting the workforce are not new, they do exacerbate long-standing social inequities embedded in our pre-COVID economic landscape. The pandemic has had a disparate impact on women, frontline workers, and other vulnerable populations, and the Employment Development Department crisis has exposed the reliance on a strained safety net for displaced workers.

This joint webinar with CalMatters explores the following issues: What reforms to the state’s unemployment insurance, child care, and earned income tax credit systems are needed to enhance access to those in need of immediate assistance? For those disproportionately displaced from the workforce, how can higher education adapt upskilling and apprenticeship programs to offer new career pathways?

Moderator
Jackie Botts
Author, Cal Matters

Panelists
Sarah Bohn
Vice President of Research, Public Policy Institute of California

Rob Lapsley
President, California Business Roundtable