Don Cravins Jr.
Senior Vice President for Policy and Executive Director of the National Urban League’s Washington Bureau

Twitter: @DCravins

By the end of 2017, the U.S. economy appeared to be booming. The stock market was at record highs; companies were competing with one another to announce bonuses for employees in response to federal tax cuts; and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%, its lowest since 2000. But in minority communities, many of these gains were passing folks by. Blacks are significantly less likely to invest in the stock market, so the bull market charged right past; the wealth gap between whites and Blacks continues to expand despite a seemingly resurgent economy; and the Black unemployment rate (6.8% at the end of 2017) remains several points higher than the overall average.   

For Black America, these dynamics are frustratingly familiar. Despite making significant progress in a number of important areas, economic opportunities continue to elude far too many members of the community. If true inclusiveness remains elusive in what some feel is a promising economic climate, what else might be done to assure equitable access to these gains?

It might be hard to believe, but there is a lot that can—and must—be done. And fortunately for people of color, much of this will happen in urban environments, where the vast majority of Blacks live.

In general, cities are thriving in the United States. Urban population totals continue to inch up, and diversity in many of the country’s largest cities is booming. While critical issues remain to be addressed in many instances, particularly around social justice, cities are increasingly looking to leverage their many tangible and intangible assets in an effort to reinvent themselves as hubs that can stoke innovation, bolster economic creation, and deliver more equitable outcomes to residents.

At the top of many local officials’ agendas is the determination to close the digital divide because those cities that do so will be positioned to harness the next generation of communications networks and the cutting-edge technologies that enable them to become “smart cities.” Advanced communications networks are rapidly emerging as the foundation upon which more intelligent urban environments will be built. The potential for these systems is enormous. The data generated by devices tapping into these networks will remake sectors from healthcare to education to government itself, creating a pervasive “internet of things” that will make transformative real-time services available to everyone regardless of where they live or how much they earn.

From a jobs perspective, a “smart cities” mindset is fertile ground for economic development. Indeed, many viable opportunities will arise across this new urban landscape, from helping to deploy and maintain the physical network infrastructure to spearheading efforts to harness these networks in the most transformative ways.

Jobs in the telecommunications space remain plentiful, due in large part to sustained investment in the construction, maintenance and operation of the far-reaching, complex advanced communications networks that connect millions of Americans to the internet. In 2017, nearly 900,000 Americans were employed in a sector where more than $70 billion was invested in network infrastructure. Equally important is that this sector has an impressive record of diversity, employing Blacks at a rate above the community’s share of the overall workforce.

Looking ahead, the prospects for jobs in this sector brighten even more. Accenture estimates that three million new jobs will be created each year during the construction and deployment of 5G and other next generation networks, like wireline, that will underlie smart cities. More than twice as many additional jobs will arise to support these new construction positions, which means that a total of about 120,000 new positions will come online as cities pursue this strategy. Ensuring that Blacks are ready, willing, and able to seize these opportunities will be critical, so action must be taken now to not only apprise would-be candidates of these positions, but also to begin thinking about how to deliver the education and training resources needed to create a viable pipeline for jobseekers. One way to achieve this goal is to establish apprenticeship programs. These programs, like the National Urban League’s Wireless Infrastructure Apprenticeship Access Initiative, provide access and on the job training for these high demand infrastructure jobs.

Additional employment and entrepreneurship opportunities will arise in the sectors that will be disrupted by these new networks. Coders, product designers, device makers, and other innovators will be needed to help harness these new services, creating ideal conditions for start-ups and new business creation to thrive in urban areas. Accenture estimates that the total number of such jobs could number in the tens of thousands in larger urban areas like Chicago and New York.

Securing these positions, though, will be difficult for several reasons. First, these positions generally require a specialized skill set. To date, Black educational attainment in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) has lagged far behind other groups. Second, unlike the telecom space, the high-tech sector has a dismal record when it comes to workforce diversity, creating high barriers to entry for Blacks. Taken together, these impediments highlight the need for policymakers to play a more active role in facilitating these opportunities.

Realizing these many possibilities will require the concerted efforts of a broad range of stakeholders. Local officials will have to actively work with industry, educators, and community leaders to create a technology neutral policy framework that facilitates the expeditious deployment of next generation networks and ensures that economic opportunities are equitably distributed and accessible to as many people as possible. Taking affirmative steps toward unleashing investment in new networks and creating more favorable conditions for innovation and entrepreneurship provides cities with a competitive advantage in today’s global digital economy. Policymakers and other stakeholders must also recognize that acting now to create a diverse pool of skilled Black workers who will be able to fill new openings is critical. Otherwise, failure to seize these opportunities will mean that Black America, once again, finds itself on the sidelines of an economic revolution.