Global Employment Opportunities
Fall 2023 Writing Finalist
by Aidan Quigley, Economics Major, Business Strategy Minor and Global & Community Impact Minor
I believe changing the world involves harnessing the unique skills of one group to address the distinct needs of another. I am passionate about facilitating that connection, and I feel like I’m currently standing in the middle of an absolute gamechanger: We should spin out the capabilities of the BYU Record Linking Lab (RLL) to create economic opportunities for disadvantaged populations. The lab can hire, train, and qualify people, then directly connect them with the emerging AI market to meet its massive labor demand. Dr. Joe Price’s Record Linking Lab is a student-powered economics research team that researches marginalized communities.
This year, in efforts to improve our output and effectiveness, we partnered with BYU Pathway to hire two-hundred international students, many of whom work entirely from a smartphone in Africa. Collaborating professionally with these people was touching and inspiring; however, we encountered surprising skepticism from community stakeholders about the quality of their work. Our team worked to challenge these misconceptions, auditing employee workflows, successfully proving their efficiency and reliability. In a separate test program, we proved that individuals with autism or other developmental disabilities are extremely proficient in reverse indexing work. When we stopped and considered these remarkable collaborations, it felt like we had discovered a superpower: we can affordably provide meaningful employment to anyone, anywhere.
What we did with these two disadvantaged groups is scalable. The rapidly-growing AI market needs machine-learning training data. This data is simple to produce, but the quantity demanded is massive. Large tech companies want to hire low-cost employees for this baseline work but fear compromising on quality. The RLL can solve this issue, vetting their reliability through our program. The potential impact here is immense. Historically, individuals from disadvantaged demographics have been supported through traditional welfare avenues. The RLL presents the best alternative to welfare: employment. I posit that the RLL can create jobs for chronically unemployed demographics. It can function as an economically viable employment vehicle, servicing many different disadvantaged populations, mitigating tax-funded welfare. Individuals benefit psychologically from feelings of attainment, and economies benefit from increased workforce participation and decreased welfare dependency. Win-win.
Who are specific demographics the RLL could help?
- International BYU-Pathway Students: Thirty-four thousand, who have professional skills yet still face unemployment challenges
- Utah Autism Population: Third highest in the nation, who face an 80% unemployment rate
- Utah Homeless Population: 3,557 people
- Utahns in State Prisons: Obvious constraints limit traditional employment opportunities
- Additional demographics facing chronic unemployment challenges
Note: Nearly all people in these demographics have access to reliable internet via personal devices, public libraries, etc.
Picturing the future, I imagine a Utahn exiting homelessness, having developed a resume that includes “BYU Research Assistant.” I imagine an African with an AI Annotation Certificate hired by an international tech firm, cultural barriers of distance and distrust replaced by increased opportunity. And I imagine much more. There is an obvious and profoundly symbiotic relationship here, and I believe the RLL is positioned and prepared to make it happen.