Congressmen Davis & Nunn Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Study the Impact of Automation on the Workforce
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Representatives Don Davis (NC-01) and Zach Nunn (IA-03) introduced bipartisan, bicameral legislation, the Workforce DATA Act of 2023. Senators Gary Peters (D-MI) and Todd Young (R-IN) introduced the Senate version in June. The legislation seeks to require the Labor Secretary to measure the impact of automation on the workforce by instructing the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to conduct a study.
“At the end of the day, a job is about more than a paycheck,” said Congressman Don Davis. “In North Carolina’s First Congressional District, only about 130,000 workers, or 25 percent of the population, are four-year college graduates. These hard-working eastern North Carolinians are the most vulnerable to shifts in the labor market resulting from automation. In order to preserve their jobs, we must have a more concrete idea of how automation will affect the ratio of human to automated labor, which is why the Workforce DATA Act is an important step forward. In the 21st-century economy, workers are often at the mercy of rapid technological development. To ensure a robust workforce, we must use all tools at our disposal to protect workers in a changing landscape.”
“Technological advancement is good for society, and if done right, will make all of our lives easier,” said Congressman Zach Nunn. At the same time, we must ensure that workforce changes don’t eliminate good paying jobs that Iowans rely on,” said Rep. Nunn. “Our bipartisan Workforce DATA Act will develop an action plan to protect Iowans’ jobs, ensuring that automation is a tool to make work easier and more productive, not a replacement for the skills of talented Americans.”
“Technological change has always been a hallmark of the transportation sector, but the rapid pace of advancements in emerging tech presents unique challenges,” said Greg Regan, President of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO. “To ensure new transportation technologies align with our national workforce needs, we must have high-quality data and better coordination among stakeholders to track, analyze, and respond to the impacts of tech on current and future jobs, including their potential for job creation, displacement, wage degradation, and skills gaps due to new technologies. The Workforce DATA Act would be an invaluable tool in helping to meet this challenge, and we commend Representative Davis for his leadership on this urgent issue.”
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