FCC Commissioner Starks Remarks at Future of Work Roundtable

People wonder: what role does the Federal Communications Commission have in the future of work? And I say, the better question is what role doesn’t the FCC have in the future of work? Fifth Generation wireless technology (5G) is going to shape our collective future – and we need to think as hard about people as we doabout pole attachments. Further, when we’re talking about the future of work, we’re talking about digital skills, and it would be misguided for us to not couple that discussion with the importance of broadband access and broadband adoption. It’s no secret that we have a broadband infrastructure issue in this country and that is largely impacting our most rural communities. However, we also have a broadband adoption problem in this country, which is impacting communities all across this nation, including our most urban centers. Census Bureau surveys show that three times as many households in urban areas remain unconnected as in rural areas. 

And this matters because we can’t expect people to have the ability to work remotely, start or sustain their own business, or upskill and reskill themselves using online training programs, if their barrier to adopting broadband is affordability. We need to help people across this country keep pace with this changing world, rather than turning our backs on them. As much as people around here like to think it’s the folks inside of the Beltway who keep America running, I would beg to differ. The backbone of this country is made up of the farmer in Bakersille (VA) the grocer in the Piggly Wiggly in Batesville (MS), the machinist in Detroit (MI), and the administrate assistant at the medical clinic in Brooklyn (NY). The future of our economy is dependent on how we treat our most vulnerable communities including those most susceptible to job displacement or disruption.