Labor

It is great to be joined by the innovators, educators, and advocates on the roundtable—all of whom are focused on developing a strong tech workforce here in Mississippi. I welcome the chance to participate in today’s event and learn from their perspectives.  When I think about broadband, I think about the jobs and opportunities it creates for millions of Americans around the country. It’s one of the reasons I’m focused in my role at the FCC on policies that will promote broadband deployment.

A coalition of top public broadcast organizations formally withdrew a recommendation that the Federal Communications Commission ease equal employment opportunity requirements for public stations. America’s Public Television Stations, National Public Radio, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Public Broadcasting Service recommended the review in a joint response to the commission’s request for comments on its agenda to modernize media regulations. After supporters of the EEO rules objected last week, the organizations formally withdrew it.

The U.S. technology industry has grown into one of America's most powerful and prestigious business sectors, now including 4 of the 5 most valuable companies in the world. But as the United States becomes a more diverse country overall, tech has increasingly come under fire for its striking lack of diversity. Even the most sincere efforts to fix the problem face one big obstacle, however: There are frustratingly few corporate policies that have been shown to work, over the long term, to improve diversity.

More than 50 protesters demonstrated outside the annual Oscar nominees luncheon at the Beverly Hilton to protest the under-representation of Latinos in the film industry.

In this bulletin, I aim to quantify the relationship between higher broadband speeds (10 Mbps versus 25 Mbps) and the growth rates in important economic outcomes in U.S. counties including jobs, personal income, and labor earnings. Doing so exposes the potential for severe selection bias in studies of broadband’s economic impact, which is addressed in this study using Coarsened Exact Matching. Once balanced, the data reveal no economic payoff from the 15 Mbps speed difference between the years 2013 and 2015.

Communications Workers of America members at AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have created a national network of union and non-union workers organizing to "protect good jobs and quality customer service." According to CWA, hundreds are meeting in Orlando (FL) Jan 30 to strategize about changing the industry "from within." That coincided with a planned demonstration in front of AT&T and Verizon stores there by wireless workers in support of AT&T Wireless employees in the Southeast currently trying to negotiate a new contract.

The Federal Communications Commission's Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee (BDAC) adopted a recommendation that would mandate the use of contractors to move telephone company equipment to make room for new attachers' equipment. This is work that is currently performed by trained, skilled, career employees at AT&T, Verizon, Frontier, and other employers. The BDAC recommendation threatens public safety.

The Internet Association -- a key voice for Amazon, Facebook, Google and other tech giants in the nation’s capital -- is kicking off a new initiative to try to diversify the industry’s predominately white, male ranks. For years, Silicon Valley and other tech hotspots around the country have faced constant condemnation for failing to hire and retain employees from underrepresented groups. Among the critics is the Congressional Black Caucus, a powerful group of lawmakers that has even threatened regulation if tech doesn’t make major changes.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai's claim that repealing network neutrality rules will boost network investment didn't get much support from Verizon's latest spending forecast. Verizon's network spending won't change much in 2018, and the company also won't be using its newfound tax savings to upgrade its broadband networks. Verizon reported $17.2 billion of capital expenditures in calendar year 2017, with the net neutrality rules in place the entire year.