THE PANDEMIC
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. businesses were experiencing one of the tightest talent markets in history, with many organizations struggling
to find and retain the employees they needed to succeed. As the country comes to grips with the impact that Covid-19 has had on the economy
and the state of the labor market, organizations are still confronting a mismatch between the talent they need in a new economy and what they
are finding in the marketplace.
While unemployment is beginning to decrease as the economy stabilizes and recession begins to recede, there are stubborn talent gaps that
have persisted from well before the pandemic. Organizations are now reckoning with the fact that these gaps were not just the result of a tight
talent marketplace, but of a lack of organizational investment in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and will require more innovative HR practices
to solve.
One of the most effective and least-utilized solutions to these gaps
1
are untapped talent pools: those workers who may not be in the standard
consideration set when businesses seek talent, due to perceived barriers related to one or more demographic characteristics. Untapped talent
pools such as veterans, military spouses and caregivers, individuals aged 60 or older, disabled workers, those with a criminal record, and non-
student unemployed youth all present unique opportunities and value to organizations willing to make the effort to seek them out. Even prior
to the global pandemic many of these workers struggled to find the work and wages they need to survive and thrive as a result of a plethora of
barriers to employment. For example, prior to Covid-19, the unemployment rate for individuals with disabilities was double that of peers without
2
and only 13% of organizations have disability-specific inclusion initiatives
3
. Organizations must do their part to ensure that these populations aren't
left behind.
For employers to remain competitive and continue with a more equitable post-Covid recovery, bringing untapped talent to the forefront of
recruitment and hiring will be of paramount importance. The SHRM Foundation, in partnership with Walmart, surveyed the American workforce
about untapped talent pools to gain a fuller understanding of the state of the inclusion of these groups in the U.S. workforce. SHRM and the SHRM
Foundation believe that inclusion plays an integral role in the development of social and economic change in the workplace, and that inclusivity
opens the door to more opportunity to foster mutually beneficial work environments, where both businesses and employees can thrive—during
the pandemic and after.
1 https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/pages/skills-gap-2019.aspx
2 https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/empsit_10042019.pdf
3 https://www.employingabilities.org
PARADOX
2
