Economic & Workforce Development

As state and regional economies emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, development leaders are assessing the state of key industries and considering investments to spur recovery and resilience. In addressing the most immediate needs of leading and emerging industries, development leaders must also consider the effects of automation and digitization and how these long-running trends create opportunities and challenges for firms and their employees.

Reflecting on past trends and making smarter investments requires actionable information on the state of automation and digitization in industry as well as on the state of the workforce and its resilience to change. While we can, to some extent, predict how automation trends will proceed based on past trends, the implications are different for each community, so we have to put the analysis tools in the hands of local leaders and ensure information is updated from the perspective of local employers and the workforce.

If properly integrated, automation estimation tools can instigate important conversations and help struggling communities think ahead and consider responses to technological change and skill demand that are unique to their region’s population and industry mix. Having more information on automation can also help reduce the automation hype and help focus action. Its important for regions to understand how their community can harness new technology and adapt to shifts in skill demand in the context of recovery and building resilience for future disruptions.

If you are interested in learning more about how Automation Exposure Scores can provide value to your Economic and Workforce Development organization, join the LMI Institute’s Community of Practice [hyperlink] to receive full-access to the data and a community of practitioners developing use-cases for indicators of automation exposure.

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