INTHEBLACK October 2021 - Magazine - Page 55
CLICK HERE
TO BORROW
Coronavirus and
Business from
the CPA Library
HELP
RESKILL THE
UNEMPLOYED
M AY S A M A L I
H A R VA R D S C H O L A R A N D
LEADERSHIP COACH
I
hyperinflation, while those who adapt to
the new environment will survive and thrive.
The good news is that people don’t have to
accept their fate in the K-shaped recovery.
While some wealth and knowledge may be
passed on from parents, inspirational stories
abound of children who were born into
poverty and made their own fortunes. For
example, many of today’s billionaires were
self-made.
In the 21st century, anyone with a
smartphone can access the collective
knowledge of the world, which includes
learning a new language, learning about
business, economics or investing.
Obviously, it is not wise to gamble with
your pocket change or your life savings, and
we should not rely on a “hot tip” from a friend
or a random stranger on YouTube or TikTok.
Everyone has to do their own research
and play the investment game not for a
quick win, but for the purpose of long-term
wealth creation.
think social inequality related to gender
and race is being exacerbated as a result of
the pandemic, and it’s a conversation we’re
not having frequently enough.
When you’re already part of a minority
group, the social inequalities combined with
the economic inequalities are even worse.
I also think it starts with being heard,
and it would be wonderful if the federal
government was to state that, while it’s
amazing we’ve come out of this with very
little life lost in Australia, let’s also talk
about who has really suffered, let’s talk about
the fact that incomes have not grown as
much as wealth, and let’s talk about the fact
that billionaires have doubled or tripled their
wealth while other people’s worlds have
been falling apart.
I also think we need to invest more in
mental healthcare, because that is going to
be crucial to ensuring the bottom spoke of
the “K” doesn’t linger longitudinally.
In terms of policy, we need targeted
responses that recognise that people do not
start on the same footing in life, and rolling
out something across the board is not going
to work. With that in mind, I think there
are two main financial interventions that
governments can make.
The first starts with taking a global
approach to ensuring big multinational
companies are paying enough tax, as
discussed at a recent G7 summit. We need
to collect this tax revenue and use it to fund
efforts to reskill our workforces.
That leads me to the second intervention
idea – the FORTE model of reskilling,
which was developed by an Oxford Rhodes
Scholar and stands for “financing of return
to employment”.
It essentially involves the government
retraining people impacted by the pandemic
to skill them for in-demand jobs. Investors
cover the cost of training for individuals, the
pie of newly employed people grows, and
those who were unemployed take up the
jobs of the future.
Then, because these new employees
are generating income tax revenue, the
government splits the surplus by repaying
investors a portion of that tax income for
a certain number of years.
intheblack.com October 2021 55