Speaker 1: This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg
Speaker 1: Quick Takes Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Goodwill Industries, you
Speaker 1: know them well and I feel especially at this time
Speaker 1: of the year when you might be making some end
Speaker 1: of year donations. Goodwill, though, is busy throughout the year.
Speaker 1: Last year, loan serving nearly two million individuals around the globe,
Speaker 1: including helping to train more than nearly more than nearly
Speaker 1: twenty five thousand individuals for careers and industries such as banking,
Speaker 1: I T and healthcare. So a really appropriate guest and
Speaker 1: topic on this Giving Tuesday. We've got Steve Preston with us.
Speaker 1: He's CEO of Goodwill Industries International. He's also got a
Speaker 1: great background. You worked in the government as administrator of
Speaker 1: the s b A. UH. He was Secretary of Housing
Speaker 1: and Urban Development. UH. Stephen, good to have you with
Speaker 1: us this afternoon. How are you. I'm great, It's great
Speaker 1: to be with you, guys. UM. Before we get to
Speaker 1: what exactly you're doing a good Will I just want
Speaker 1: to get an idea of what you're seeing with the
Speaker 1: labor market, what you're seeing across the on me, because
Speaker 1: that is directly impacts what you do. It good well,
Speaker 1: so what's your read? Yeah, for sure it does. So
Speaker 1: we our network employees people and as you mentioned, we
Speaker 1: support uh two million people on their quest to a
Speaker 1: better job each year. So we we touched the labor
Speaker 1: market in a number of different ways. Um, we're seeing
Speaker 1: with a lot of a lot of you all see
Speaker 1: it is hot. It's a little bit less hot than
Speaker 1: it was a few months ago, but it's still on
Speaker 1: it from a historical perspective. Um, you know, really strong
Speaker 1: labor market. The other thing we're seeing though, is the
Speaker 1: narrative here is less about, um, the problem getting a job.
Speaker 1: The narrative is more around people being able to find
Speaker 1: the right kind of job and employers finding the right
Speaker 1: kind of employee. Increasingly, what employers have told us over
Speaker 1: the last you know, five or six months is they've
Speaker 1: got these great jobs available, but they need people with
Speaker 1: the right kind of training to be able to be
Speaker 1: successful in them. And they're often job that are well
Speaker 1: paying off for good advancement and in in good benefits.
Speaker 1: We have people on the other side who are sort
Speaker 1: of churning in low wage jobs who told us that
Speaker 1: they want those better jobs, but they're not able to
Speaker 1: compete for them because they lack the skills or other
Speaker 1: support they need to be successful in them, and so
Speaker 1: we try to provide that bridge. But there's a huge
Speaker 1: opportunity out there right now in our market for people
Speaker 1: to move from lower wage jobs into better jobs if
Speaker 1: they can get support during that pathway, you know, Steve,
Speaker 1: I've got to say, I feel like over the years
Speaker 1: we've talked often about a skills gap. I feel like
Speaker 1: Alan Greenspan used to talk about it a lot when
Speaker 1: he was a FED chair and so not a new idea,
Speaker 1: but I appreciate what you're saying. So, how do we
Speaker 1: really significantly make sure that, you know, the skills that
Speaker 1: are needed are being provided, whether it's through academic institutions
Speaker 1: or other types of training, you know, facilities. How do
Speaker 1: we fix this problem that's been around for a while. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been around and it's expanded, it's getting worse. So
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up. I think foundationally, we
Speaker 1: may need to make sure that young people are entering
Speaker 1: the labor for with foundational skills, whether they be digital skills, core,
Speaker 1: mathematics core, you know, uh, reading and writing skills. A
Speaker 1: lot of those are missing at the outset, and that's
Speaker 1: that's sort of the that's sort of the entry point.
Speaker 1: But is that basic education like through high school you're
Speaker 1: talking about, it's basic education in high school. And we
Speaker 1: need to make sure their educational institutions are preparing people
Speaker 1: for the workforce. And many of us believe providing more
Speaker 1: vocational opportunities for people who don't necessarily want to go
Speaker 1: to college but are are perfect candidates for great jobs
Speaker 1: in the trades or in other areas. When people get older,
Speaker 1: if they if they're unable to be successful in the
Speaker 1: labor market, or if they have other challenges in life,
Speaker 1: it is really hard for people to get back on track.
Speaker 1: And as a result, we need ways for those people
Speaker 1: to get the support they need that they cannot only
Speaker 1: break through barriers that they have in life in general,
Speaker 1: but they can get those course skills. We see people,
Speaker 1: we see single moms with kids and homeless shelters going
Speaker 1: to duck jobs at Google and Accenture in six months.
Speaker 1: Because if they're getting you're getting support they need to
Speaker 1: kind of work through that journey, maybe housing support or
Speaker 1: other support, and they're getting breakthrough digital skills or other
Speaker 1: skills And the interesting thing about that is that first
Speaker 1: job isn't necessarily the ending point. It's like a destination
Speaker 1: where people say, oh my gosh, like I can do this,
Speaker 1: I've got these skills, and it becomes it changes the
Speaker 1: trajectory for people in their lives. So there are pathways.
Speaker 1: We see it every day in the work what we do.
Speaker 1: But we need people to get more access to those supports,
Speaker 1: and not only the skills themselves, but help through that
Speaker 1: initial part in the journey so that they can get
Speaker 1: to the other ended move into employment. Hey Mike, we
Speaker 1: only got a minute left, but you worked in government
Speaker 1: for many years. You were former Secretary of Housing and
Speaker 1: Urban Development, you were administrator of the s b A.
Speaker 1: Given what you know now you're from your work at Goodwill.
Speaker 1: If you could wave a magic wand and get lawmakers
Speaker 1: to do something to help alleviate the issues that you
Speaker 1: see each and every day, what would it be. Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, my my magic wand would say, let's
Speaker 1: let's agree there's a problem together. We want to work
Speaker 1: together rather than going into our separate camp. So that's
Speaker 1: a broader, broader narrative. I think we need to focus
Speaker 1: on the core educational lack in this entire system, both
Speaker 1: at the edge, at the at the secondary educational level
Speaker 1: and beyond, because our employers needed, are people needed, Our
Speaker 1: community is needed, and there are pathways both early on
Speaker 1: and throughout life that we can support that will change
Speaker 1: this issue. And UM and I think there's a lot
Speaker 1: of data out there. There are a lot of service
Speaker 1: providers like us out there, and if we can come together,
Speaker 1: we can make a huge dent in this issue. Well,
Speaker 1: we run out of time, Steve, but I hope UM
Speaker 1: you will come back because we would love to continue
Speaker 1: the conversation and I feel like there's a lot of
Speaker 1: other areas that we could go with you. Steve Preston,
Speaker 1: Chief executive officer, Goodwill Industries International. He's former Secretary Area
Speaker 1: of the U S Department of Housing and Urban Development
Speaker 1: and Administrative of the U S Small Business Administration. He
Speaker 1: served during the George W. Bush administration. So great to
Speaker 1: catch up with him via zoom in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: A lot of relevant You know, when you look at
Speaker 1: a labor market and how tight it is, this is
Speaker 1: ways of creating workers that have the skills that are needed.
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