In the backdrop of the global economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, Microsoft President Brad Smith, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky announced a new global skills initiative to help 25 million people worldwide acquire new digital skills by the end of the year. The initiative is especially for those hardest hit by job losses.
Businesses view expanded access to the digital skills as one of the key steps necessary to foster a safe and successful economic recovery. This comprehensive technology initiative is based on three areas of activity including using data to identify jobs on demand and the skills needed to fill them, free access to learning paths and content to help people develop the skills these positions require and low-cost certifications and free job search tools to help people who engage in these activities find new jobs.
This joint program is based on data and digital technology. It starts with data on job and skills from the LinkedIn Economic Graph, provides free access to content on LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Learn and the GitHub Learning Lab, and pairs them with Microsoft Certifications and LinkedIn job search tools.
All of these resources will be available in one place: opportunity.linkedin.com and will be available online in four languages: English, French, German and Spanish.
Microsoft is also providing $20 million in cash grants for non-profit organisations worldwide. The company is committed to making stronger data and analytics available to governments around the world, so they can better assess local economic needs.
The company has also developed a new learning app in Microsoft Teams designed to help employers skill and upskill new and current employees as people return to work and as the economy adds jobs.