Alma Adams on Worker-Owned Learning and Employment Records (LEERs)

The Need for Learning and Employment Records (LEERs)

• 💡 The current economy is not working for many constituents, with rising costs and disappearing opportunities.
• 🎯 Learning and Employment Records (LEERs) are defined as comprehensive digital records of employment, earnings, skills, and credentials.
• 🔑 LEERs could provide individuals with a digital portfolio of their work experience, skills, and credentials, serving as an alternative to traditional resumes.

Benefits of LEERs for Efficiency and Equity

• 🚀 LEERs have the potential to make the economy more efficient, equitable, and productive.
• 📊 Employers are overwhelmed by applications with limited, hard-to-verify information, often requiring college degrees for jobs that don't necessitate them.
• 📈 This practice shuts out talented individuals without degrees and contributes to economic disparities, particularly for those facing systemic barriers to higher education.
• ✅ Companies like Google, Apple, and IBM are adopting skills-based hiring, demonstrating the value of LEERs in connecting skilled workers with jobs.

Challenges and Risks of LEER Implementation

• ⚠️ The current job market lacks the technological infrastructure for widespread LEER adoption.
• 🚧 Efforts are hampered by low awareness, lack of common data definitions and standards, digital literacy gaps, and data privacy concerns.
• ⚖️ LEERs must be equitable and avoid infringing on worker rights, increasing discrimination, or widening achievement and income gaps.

Ensuring Worker Control and Open Standards

• 🔒 Workers must wholly own and control their LEERs, deciding what information is input, verified, and shared.
• 🛡️ These protections are crucial for worker control over sensitive data like demographics and to prevent unethical employers from uploading false or denigrating information.
• 🌐 For LEERs to scale, data definitions and protocols linking them with other databases should be open-sourced.
• 🤝 Over-reliance on proprietary systems could hinder LEERs' integration with the wider workforce system.
• ✨ Bipartisan enthusiasm exists for LEERs, with a focus on expanding opportunities and connecting skilled workers with careers.