Broadband as Means For Job Creation Debated at FCC Workshop

Economists speaking at the Federal Communications Commission workshop on Economic Growth, Job Creation, and Private Investment said that rolling out broadband does not necessarily translate into job creation, and online video will be the death of traditional TV.

James Prieger, a professor at Pepperdine, pointed out that broadband may add to productivity, but that could mean doing more with fewer workers. He said that deploying high-speed Internet was not a Band-Aid that could be "slapped on" an ailing labor market or economy. Broadband could attract workers from town x to town y, he said, but he didn't see how from a state's point of view that was necessarily a good thing. And he called a deeper problem the issue of globalization. Chris Furman, a professor at the Georgia Tech, seconded Prieger's assessment, saying that there was "little evidence that use of advanced Internet was associated with growth in employment."

Ralph Everett, president of the Joint Center for Political and Economic studies, wasn't ready to concede the point. "Broadband means jobs and communities need jobs," he said. He had his own studies, including one that showed that increased broadband contributed to 52,000 or 281,000 new jobs in California in 2005. He said access to broadband was about online job searches and 21st century skills that would be necessary to live in that century. He pointed out the higher unemployment rate for African Americans and lower broadband adoption rates said the way out begins with a broadband plan that connects them and at least gives them a fighting chance for the social and economic progress that for them is now "just a dream."