Beyond the First Job: Career Ladder Initiatives in Information Technology Industries

In the past two decades, major growth drivers in the U.S. economy have included computers and software, information "content" such as broadcast entertainment, and advanced services and manufacturing that rely on information technology. This is particularly true in leading metropolitan agglomerations, where synergies between the global reach of communications systems and the local intensity of face-to-face communication are crucial to getting the most out of talent, entrepreneurial creativity, and productivity (Graham and Marvin 1996; Hall 1999; Sassen 2001). The polarity between information haves and have-nots in the most dynamic urban centers is stark, however. The digital divide creates or reinforces cultural distance among people who are geographically within a few miles of one another (Mitchell 1999; Servon 2002). Significantly, since it has as much to do with earning power as with access to information, the divide also reinforces income disparities among urbanites (Schon 1999; Hall 1999; National Telecommunications and Information Administration 2000). Comments Reprinted from Communities and Workforce Development, Edwin Melendez, ed., (Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute, 2004), Chapter 8, pages 253-290. This book chapter is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/cplan_papers/44 Beyond the First Job Career Ladder Initiatives in Information Technology Industries Laura Wolf-Powers Pratt Institute Wolf-Powers, Laura. 2004. “Beyond the First Job: Career Ladders in Information Technology Industries.” In Communities and Workforce Development, Edwin Melendez, ed. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, pp. 253–290. © W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. 8 Beyond the First Job Career Ladder Initiatives in Information Technology Industries Laura Wolf-Powers Pratt Institute In the past two decades, major growth drivers in the U.S. economy have included computers and software, information “content” such as broadcast entertainment, and advanced services and manufacturing that rely on information technology. This is particularly true in leading metropolitan agglomerations, where synergies between the global reach of communications systems and the local intensity of face-to-face communication are crucial to getting the most out of talent, entrepreneurial creativity, and productivity (Graham and Marvin 1996; Hall 1999; Sassen 2001). The polarity between information haves and have-nots in the most dynamic urban centers is stark, however. The digital divide creates or reinforces cultural distance among people who are geographically within a few miles of one another (Mitchell 1999; Servon 2002). Significantly, since it has as much to do with earning power as with access to information, the divide also reinforces income disparities among urbanites (Schon 1999; Hall 1999; National Telecommunications and Information Administration 2000). In response, policymakers have recently begun to experiment with initiatives that train low-income urbanites for jobs associated with maintaining communications infrastructure. The ability to understand complex information technology, and to translate that knowledge into hands-on use and maintenance of the infrastructure through which people exchange information, greatly increases the chances of a non-college-educated person’s earning a livable wage in today’s urban labor market (Chapple et al. 2000a). Jobs installing and maintaining voice 253 © W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research