At Envision 2020, this year, a digital event, Microsoft launched a five-year campaign it says will help 1.5 million United Kingdom residents build careers in technology and that it would connect 300,000 of them with jobs. In conjunction with KPMG, Unilever, and the Department of Work and Pensions the campaign is fueled by encouraging other UK businesses to join them in forming the technology workforce the country needs, according to Microsoft.
‘Get on 2021’ is a new programme that builds upon Microsoft’s one-year global skills initiative. The project trains those who worked in education and their job was impacted by COVID-19, giving them an advanced set of skills sought after in technology professionals. At Microsoft’s Envision UK event, Clare Barclay, CEO, Microsoft UK, said:
“The shape of the UK economy and its workforce is changing; a change only accelerated by the rapid move to digital working in the wake of the disruption we’ve seen this year “
She added, with hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs, and some traditional sectors heavily impacted, organisations must urgently invest in UK technical skills and capability. According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the company is leveraging its network of 25,000-strong partners as well as customers to create, expand, and accelerate pathways into tech careers.
The initiative will also support people hoping to improve their skills and long-term career prospects as well as IT pros and business leaders. “Those who want to learn to leverage the latest technology to improve organisational/business effectiveness and create sustainable growth,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post.
According to Microsoft, Amelia Router is one such individual who has already benefitted from Microsoft’s training programmes. She lost her job before the lockdown and said she came across the Microsoft Data Science Bootcamp run by Microsoft partner ACME UC. Today, Router is a data analyst apprentice and spends her day turning data insights into concrete actions for companies, adding in a statement:
“My job is super flexible, and home-based, so it works around my family. It’s reassuring knowing that if and when we move on from our current location I can continue to work and have a progressive career with the company I am with”
The UK has been hit hard in recent weeks by the novel Coronavirus, with one of the highest rates of infection in the region. The country also recently entered its second shutdown, something only a few other countries have done. This includes countries like Israel, which just completed a month-long country-wide shutdown to combat the virus.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), between June and August, the UK’s unemployment rate reached 4.5%. This is an increase of 0.4% when compared to the previous three months, and implies that 1.5 million people were unemployed during this time. As more accurate data are released to the public regarding unemployment during the pandemic, one could only assume that the true nature of this number is much higher.
Consider the fact that between March, when most countries began taking measures toward full or partial lockdowns, and September, the number of people filing for unemployment in the UK rose by 120% to 2.7 million.
