The California dream is not well. We may be the fifth-largest economy in the world. We may be leaders in almost every area you can imagine, from technology to agriculture to arts. We may be the place where new ideas most often turn into new industries, thanks to venture capital funding, innovative startups, world-class universities, state-of-the art labs and our diverse talent pool.

We may be all those things. But we are also the state where too many of you are working hard and still falling behind.

The costs of housing, health care and education are out of control. Exploitation and job insecurity still deny too many working people a just day’s pay. California is both the richest and poorest state. Eight million Californians find themselves living below the poverty line. Nearly 2 million children—1 in 5—live in poverty. We’re witnessing staggering levels of income and wealth inequality.

That’s not all. Rapid advancements in technology are changing the demands of the workforce at a rapid pace. Artificial intelligence is offered up as an alternative to hiring humans, and many industries are at a crossroads, with the choice to automate and reimagine their workplace.

Confronted with that challenge, we can submit to fear and passively deal with the change as it unfolds, or we can take a stand and manage that change so it helps build an economy that works for all. On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom chose to take a stand when he tasked us with a defining challenge of our time — addressing the future of work.

The Future of Work Commission, which we will both guide alongside Lande Ajose, the governor’s senior adviser for higher education, will bring together top experts whose primary mission is to understand, analyze and make recommendations regarding how we can shape the kinds of jobs Californians will have in the decades to come.

We will look at the impact of technology on work, workers, employers, jobs and society; the methods of promoting better job quality, wages and working conditions through technology; and how we can create the most skilled workforce in the world.

The pathways to that kind of workforce will vary — after all, one size doesn’t fit all. Across the state, there are differences in demography, in geography, in education outcomes, in wage equality, in employment and underemployment levels and in social mobility. We will be thoughtful and empathetic in addressing these differences.

We will also convene employers, workers, educational institutions, technology innovators, and nonprofits across the public and private sectors in local- and state-level discussions where we will identify how innovation and quality jobs can go hand in hand, how technological change and workplace justice can co-exist, and how we can make sure people are valued for, and given opportunities to realize, their full talent and potential.

Past industrial revolutions have taught us that the magnitude of the technical transformation ahead will require us to think big. We will need to understand those industries, jobs and skills that will be affected by the change — now and in the future — while embracing and attracting jobs we haven’t yet imagined. Just as technologists have curated, harnessed and displayed GPS data to efficiently guide us through detours and changing road conditions, we must do the same for careers, so people can nimbly respond to rapid changes and make better-informed decisions about their education and career paths.

Workers should not have to bear the burden of rapid and regular skill development alone, nor the associated costs. We have to tackle the issue of affordability and accessibility to education, tools and supports (such as tuition, financial aid, child care, tax credits and up-to-date, accurate and accessible information about jobs now and in the future) that will allow workers to keep pace with changing credentials that align with their career goals.

Importantly, we must engage and incentivize employers to invest in training strategies that advance people’s careers on their terms. For example, California is investing in training partnerships where labor, management, community-based organizations and colleges commit to recruiting, training and hiring workers from local communities for secure jobs with career pathways in construction, hospitality, building maintenance, health care and more.

California has always embodied the future. So many of the technologies that have changed our lives were invented here. We have led the nation in setting workplace standards and raising the floor under which no one should have to live and work. There is no reason we cannot bring a similar spirit to shaping the future of work.

And this is about all of us, which is why we will be holding public forums across the state and hope that all Californians participate in the process so that you can help shape the final recommendations.

The opportunity before us is bigger than simply filling open jobs. It’s about addressing inequities, building agile partnerships that support lifelong learning, and ensuring that the jobs of tomorrow are quality jobs that lift people out of poverty and support economic mobility. In our view, the future of work isn’t simply about technology. At its core, it’s about workers and making sure that, for this generation and the next, we have an economy in California that works for all.

Lenny Mendonca is chief economic and business adviser and director of the California Office of Business and Economic Development. Julie Su is the California secretary of labor and oversees the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Together with California Senior Adviser on Higher Education Lande Ajose, they will help build the new California Future of Work Commission.