Workforce summit kicks off effort to train 10,000 Memphis workers

If job creation is the yardstick, automation has been a boon to Memphis.

Despite the move toward automation in distribution, transportation, logistics and other industries, more than 330,000 net new jobs were created between 1980 and 2017 in Memphis, according to Mark Muro, with the Brookings Institution.

Still, job growth led by advancements in technology can lead to selective progress and further income inequality.

"I always say, tech empowers but tech divides," Muro said during a keynote address at the UpSkill901 Workforce Summit hosted but the Greater Memphis Chamber Tuesday morning at the University of Memphis' University Center.

Memphis has seen that play out. Despite the huge number of new jobs and the low levels of unemployment in Memphis, most of the growth has happened at the top and bottom of the pay spectrum. High-wage and low-wage positions have continued to rise while traditionally middle income jobs have largely disappeared.

The key to surviving the "robot apocalypse" as Muro called it, is for workers to commit to a lifetime of learning so rather than losing a job to technology, they will be prepared to use the technology to do their jobs better.

While Muro thinks the workers themselves have a responsibility to seek out that education, he said much of the responsibility to prepare the workforce also falls on businesses looking to either hire new staffers or prepare an existing workforce to manage its needs in the future.

"Everyone is responsible. This is on everyone," Muro said. "But I do think that business has a special role because it knows what it needs presumably better than anyone else... I think much of the retraining and adjustment is going to happen within companies."

The goal of Tuesday's summit was to kickstart an initiative to bring 10,000 people back to the workforce, pairing them with job training programs that can get them into higher-paying positions that are already available and keep training them to evolve as jobs evolve, Greater Memphis Chamber CEO Beverly Robertson said.

"This doesn't die here. This just begins here," Robertson said. "This is the beginning of the hard work and the heavy lifting that our service providers need to do to be able to impact our poverty levels and to get these folks in the workforce."

The second part of the workforce summit is a job fair planned for Oct. 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Pipkin Building at 940 Early Maxwell Blvd.

More than 60 employers are expected to attend and hire from the pool of candidates that attend. Job seekers who attend but don't qualify for open positions can be paired with case workers who will help them find job training programs to get them ready for future work.

To attend, register at upskill901.com.

Desiree Stennett covers economic development and business at The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at desiree.stennett@commercialappeal.com, 901-529-2738 or on Twitter: @desi_stennett.