Hollis: National recovery efforts must include Internet equality
Despite March's modest employment gain, many workers could be left permanently out of the job market if Internet equality isn't made part of the national recovery efforts, warns Julius Hollis. The CEO and Chairman of the Alliance for Digital Equality — a Speedmatters partner — penned a Huffington Post piece that issued the warning.
According to Hollis, the National Broadband Plan provides a solid framework for ensuring that universal broadband is a centerpiece of our future economy. It also provides a regulatory framework that encourages private investment in infrastructure, jobs, and IT education.
In 2009 global IT out-sourcing alone was estimated at $295 billion. Many of those jobs were exported abroad at the expensive of working Americans, Hollis added.
In the blog post, Hollis spoke on the importance of a sustainable technology jobs plan:
The Digital Revolution will stimulate job growth across every socio-economic level in our society, as well as give the U.S. a competitive advantage in the global economy. Not since the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century has our society had a unique window of opportunity of this magnitude in a peace-time era to create millions of new jobs.
The Alliance for Digital Equality is calling for a balanced regulatory framework that works hand-in-hand with private investment to achieve universal broadband access. The JET AGENDA — Jobs, Education, and Technology — will stimulate millions of new jobs and reverse economic inequality in America.
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