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Business Champions works with business leadership across the country to support policies that will build a competitive U.S. workforce, especially by making it easier for more underserved students and people of all ages and backgrounds to get training for skilled jobs.
The Manufacturing Institute is the research and education arm of the National Association of Manufacturers, an industry trade group that advocates on behalf of members to enhance the competitiveness of manufacturers.What Is the Problem?
America's employers are in the fight of their lives for skilled talent. With the baby boomer generation retiring from an increasingly high-tech workplace, the shortage of employees with math, science, technology and engineering skills is growing worse every year. As our demand for skilled workers grows, supply is not keeping pace. Among older adults (ages 55-64), the United States has the highest percentage of college-degree holders among all ranked countries. Among young adults (ages 25- 34), the United States ranks only eighth. Bottom line: America is falling behind in expanding higher educational opportunities for young people.
If current trends continue, the American workforce will be less educated in 2020 than it is today. If we don't address the mismatch between the growing demand for skilled workers and the declining supply of Americans with the required skills, our ability to compete globally will suffer.
As manufacturers, we are particularly concerned. We employ more than 14 million people in the United States and pay family-sustaining wages averaging more than $63,000 in annual compensation. The manufacturing economy is currently growing at a faster rate than the economy as a whole, particularly in new areas such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. However, 80% of companies surveyed by the NAM are having trouble finding qualified employees.
Why Are Community Colleges Key to Closing the Skills Gap?
While our skills challenges require long-term work across all levels of education, we see significant opportunities within the nation's community colleges. We are focusing on community colleges and the students they serve because they already are helping produce the skilled workforce we need to compete in the global economy.
Size: Community colleges are the largest sector of higher education, enrolling 45% of all U.S. undergraduates -- that's more than 11 million students annually.
Flexibility and Responsiveness: Community colleges can tailor programs to meet manufacturers' needs, conduct classes at their facilities and meet specific and changing demands.
Employer Satisfaction with Graduates: Eighty-one percent of employers report that applicants with a two-year degree or certificate from community and technical colleges are prepared for entry-level jobs, according to the NAM's 2005 Skills Gap Report. Only 40% said applicants with a high school degree are prepared for entry-level jobs.
Growing Demand: Labor market demand for employees with associate degrees is outpacing demands for all educational levels.
Earnings Impact: In 2003, people with an associate degree from a two-year college earned 22% more than those with only a high school diploma.
Great Value: At an average cost of $2,076 annually, community colleges provide skills needed to get on a pathway to success with a good return on investment.
Successful Track Records in Expanding Access: Community colleges serve the majority of students from under-represented groups in higher education, including low-income and minority students.
The 45% Solution -- Our Agenda for Action
Significant and promising work to close the nation's skills gap is under way in community colleges. Supported by foundations, state initiatives and a series of commissions, many community colleges are making progress in expanding access for a broader range of people, improving student completion rates and building programs to meet changing labor market demands.
Despite progress, the best practices of leading community colleges are still spreading too slowly. Far too many skill-seeking students drop out before they get what they need. Too many programs are disconnected from the labor market’s demands and opportunities. At a time when urgent action is demanded, too many policymakers, employers, educators and community leaders have settled for a status quo of incremental and piecemeal improvements in the vital sector of community colleges.
Simply getting more students into college is not enough. The skills they learn and the disciplines they select are important, as are state-of-the-art curricula and connections that link students with good jobs.
Across the country, initiatives focused on key skill and labor market demands are showing promise. These initiatives address workforce shortages in industries that pay good wages, offer opportunities for advancement, are important for local economies and have growing demands for skilled workers. They focus on building partnerships, establishing state-of-the-art curricula and programs, and strengthening connections between work and learning.
Examples of noteworthy efforts include:
• The 'Dream It. Do It.' manufacturing careers and economic development campaign that builds regional alliances to excite young people about careers in manufacturing and connect them with educational and job opportunities.
• Advanced Technology Centers that meet employers needs by focusing on regional collaboration and responsiveness.
• California's Career and Technical Education Initiative that is reversing the trend of under-funding career technical education through partnerships with community colleges.
• The Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE) programs that promote community college capacity to develop curricula and programs to meet the changing demands in the workplace.
• Pennsylvania's workforce investment board policies that encourage employers to invest in training and collaborate on common workforce needs.
Every American who is willing to work to get ahead should have the opportunity to enroll and succeed in high-quality education and training that can lead to good jobs. Much of our current post-secondary educational policy, however, was formulated to educate the more traditional baby boomer generation of the 1960s and 1970s.
Today, the demographics of our workforce have changed -- along with the demands for skills. Post-secondary policy must keep pace. Nearly 90% of all new jobs require some post-secondary education. Business leadership can bring a clear and compelling message to policymakers that expanding cost-efficient educational opportunities for more students in community colleges is critical to a national agenda for competitiveness.
Efforts in several states and regions are demonstrating how the barriers that have traditionally prevented people from getting ahead can be reduced. Examples of initiatives that merit our support include:
• Dual enrollment programs that enable high school students to enroll in community college courses.
• Minnesota's M-Powered Initiative to build pathways for non-traditional groups of students to get the skills and education required for high paying manufacturing jobs.
• New Mexico's financial aid policies that prioritize access to college for low-income students.
• Cargill's Educated Workforce Partnership with Morgan Community College in Colorado that creates pathways to advancement and degrees for immigrant workers.
• Initiatives that focus on quality and affordability such as Virginia's commitment to hold down tuition at community colleges to no more than half the average cost of attending a four-year college.
• Transfer initiatives that enable students to apply credits earned in two-year programs toward completion of four-year degrees. While accountability efforts are growing across the country, too many of these initiatives place unreasonable demands on community colleges to have the same outputs that are expected of traditional four-year colleges. Many systems measure only performance with traditional, full-time students aged 18-22. These systems are inadequate in measuring success with working adults and other non-traditional populations.
Too many leaders in business, government, education and philanthropy have an outdated view of what it means to go to college. They imagine "going to college" as enrolling in a university or four-year college, living on a campus and graduating in four years. This picture masks reality.
It's time to acknowledge and support community colleges by educating thought leaders and encouraging new partnerships between philanthropic, business, and community organizations and companies, such as the following:
• Florida's matching funds program encourages philanthropic investments in the community college sector and promotes the value of community college education to the foundation community.
• The Maine Compact is partnering with state business, government, education and community leaders to build a unified voice that aggressively promotes higher education.
• California is increasing investments in career and technical education and building a public dialogue about the need for technical education and strengthened career planning.
This summary was drawn from a longer report by Business Champions. To read the entire piece, click here.
POSTED BY: ConservativeEconomis (June 13, 2008 06:49 PM)
Manufacturing is losing 41,000 jobs per month in the U.S. as per Wall Street Journal article recently.
The U.S. graduates more engineers yearly than we need.
Where's this skills gap again?
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