Transcript Barbara Bolin, Ph.D. 804-310-2552 www.bolinenterprises.com

Barbara Bolin, Ph.D.
www.bolinenterprises.com
[email protected]
804-310-2552
What’s This about a Workforce
Crisis?
Why Are We In It?
and
What Are We Doing To Get Out of
It?
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
What Workforce Crisis?
John Russo, president of Ultra Scientific Analytical Solutions is struggling to fill
openings that require specialized training in a state where the jobless rate is close
to 11%. Of applicants, he says “I honestly think there’s a large swath of
unemployable. They don’t have any skills at all.”
William Symonds, director of the Pathways to Prosperity project at Harvard says
“Our system for preparing young adults is broken.”
“We held on to . . . low-wage, low-skilled industries for too long, and we didn’t
make the strategic long-term investments in education,” says Keith Stokes,
Executive Director of Rhode Island Economic Development.
“If we don’t address this skills problem, American businesses will lack the
world-class workforce needed to compete at the global level,” says Penny Prizker,
a Chicago business executive who is advisory board chair of the Aspen Institute’s
skills gap campaign.
‘Skills gap’ Leaves Firms Without a Worker Pipeline
The Associated Press, June 2011
www.cnbc.com
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
What Workforce Crisis?
• More than 93 million adults score at the lower levels
of national assessments of functional literacy skills
and are unprepared to enroll in postsecondary
education or job training.
• While school reform hopes to curb our nation’s
workforce problem, an estimated 65% of our nation’s
2020 workforce is already beyond the reach of our
educational system.
• 40 million Americans have no HS Diploma and more
than18 million of them are in the labor force today.
• 1 million students drop out of HS every year
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
1 Million High School Dropouts Each Year…
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2007
What Workforce Crisis?
WORKER
SKILLS &
TRAINABILITY
=
WORKPLACE
SKILL & TRAINING
DEMANDS
Why Are We In It?
Take a few moments to write down
single words or very short phrases as to
why YOU think we are in it.
I’m guessing that you may have written things like:
• Outsourcing/Loss of jobs
• Cheap labor overseas
• Technology
And these are all contributors
• Illegal workers
to the problem . . .
• World demographics
• China
but it is so much more complex than it
• India
appears and there are MANY
• Greed
contributing factors, some of which are
• Immigration
• Apathy
“hidden” from people who are not in
• Bad teachers
the workforce development field .
• Underfunded schools
• Lazy kids!
• Lazy parents!
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
First
Convergence
10 world
flatteners
1970s
Global
playing
field
+
Businesses &
individuals
adopt
new habits,
skills
& processes
Second
Convergence
In USA,
• dot-com bust
• 9/11
• corporate scandals
• “quiet crisis”
Horizontal
ways of
adding
value
Main event
+
Billions of
people (many
well-educated) in
China, India,
former USSR
• Global, cheaper, easier,
friction-free collaboration & competition
• More productive era for more people
than ever before
• World market for goods
• Wage race for low-skilled workers
• Education race for knowledge workers
2000 and beyond
Third
Convergence
1990s
From Friedman “The World Is Flat”, 2005
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
Civil rights
and social
unrest
1960s
A Nation At Risk
PCs for everyone
Computers in business
Manufacturing Tool industry
lost
Women. minorities in workplace
Steel industry declines
Japan auto industry rises
US embraces quality movement
1980s
End of 1950s
1970s
WWII Booms:
Japan rises
Babies
Women in workplace
Manufacturing
Low birth rates
Cars
Oil crisis
Construction
GI Bill
College
education becomes
accessible & expected
Defines success
Leads to middle-management
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
9/11
Wars
Economic crisis
World-wide unrest &
unemployment
Skills gap
2010
1990s
WIA/welfare reform
Free Trade
Tech boom
Mc-Millionaires
“Me” generation
Outsourcing
Rise of international middle
class in BRIC countries
Too few 18-24 yr-olds in US
K-16 Education falls short
Globalization of everything
Tech bust
A Nation At Risk: The Imperative For Educational Reform
“Our Nation is at risk. Our once unchallenged preeminence in commerce, industry,
science, and technological innovation is being overtaken by competitors
throughout the world.”
•Whatever the student's educational or work objectives, knowledge of the
New Basics (rigorous Math, English, Social Studies and Computer Science
requirements) is the foundation of success for the after-school years and,
therefore, forms the core of the modern curriculum.
•Grades should be indicators of academic achievement so they can be relied
on as evidence of a student's readiness for further study.
• Instruction in effective study and work skills, which are essential if school
and independent time is to be used efficiently, should be introduced in the
early grades and continued throughout the student's schooling.
• Persons preparing to teach should be required to meet high educational
standards, to demonstrate an aptitude for teaching, and to demonstrate
competence in an academic discipline.
National Commission on Excellence in Education , April 1983
“Keeping America in Business:
Advancing workers, businesses, and economic growth”
“There is a crisis emerging in America: workforce.
The future worker shortage in the United States,
the lack of worker skills, the increasing wage gaps,
the disjointed public programs, and the absence of business
participation all contribute to the crisis.
But most importantly, it is the failure of our nation to
recognize and respond to these challenges that presents the
greatest risk”.
102nd. American Assembly, Feb. 6-9, 2003
“The never-ending search for competitive advantage in the
global economy has led all public policy-makers to focus on
education as a key factor in strengthening competitiveness,
employment and social cohesion.”
“ . . . The pace of technological change worldwide is now
so fast that, to a large extent, we must plan for the unknown.
The only certainty is that education needs to drive these
changes.”
Noel Dempsey, Minister for
Education (Ireland), OECD
Education Committee Chair, 2004
“In 2004, Canadian research found that, if you
measure actual skills rather than educational
qualifications, human capital becomes a strong
predictor of economic growth.”
Counting Heads, The Economist
August 2004
Our high schools were designed 50 years ago to meet the
needs of another age.
Until we design them to meet the needs of this century, we
will be limiting, even ruining, the lives of millions of
Americans every year.
If we keep the system as it is, millions of children will
never get a chance to fulfill their promise. That is
offensive to our values, and it’s an insult to who we are.
Bill Gates,
Governors’ Education Summit
Washington DC, Feb 26, 2005
Part of the [“skills gap”] problem stems from a national high school
drop-out rate of 72% and a national community college
remediation rate of 15%.
Workforce development initiatives such as the $10,000 per student
“No Worker Left Behind” in MI has been unsuccessful overall because
dislocated workers were put into college degree programs for which they
were unprepared and which were often unnecessary.
The “college for all” mentality is a carry-over from the 1950s when
a 4-year college degree was the ticket to the middle class.
In the decade ending 2018, of the 47 million jobs available,
nearly half will require only an associates degree, and many will
require only short-term technical training to close skills gaps.
‘Skills gap’ Leaves Firms Without a Worker Pipeline
The Associated Press, June 2011
www.cnbc.com
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
Why Are We In It?
Realities of Current & Future Workforce Crisis
•Workplace skill needs have changed and will continue
to change on a global basis.
•There are both worker shortages AND worker skills
gaps that must be addressed in the U.S. and
internationally
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
Changes in Workforce Skills
Needs Across Fifty Years
Skilled
20%
Unskilled
60%
Professional
20%
1955
Unskilled
12%
Professional
20%
Skilled
68%
2005
Job Demands Are Shifting
85%
Skilled Jobs
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
Unskilled Jobs
80%
2000
2010
Trends in U.S. Job Task Content
Key Shifts Underway
• Boomers are retiring,
leaving manager gaps
• Service jobs now
dominate (60% today up
from 36% in 1960) and
make up 85% of income
Source: The Conference Board: The Ill Prepared U.S. Workforce
(2009)
Jobs of the Future
Of the 30 million new and replacement jobs between
now and 2018…
63% will require
some college
45%
45% will require a
Bachelor’s Degree or
higher
63%
Source: Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, 2009
Of 150 Million Adults in Labor Force, 88
Million have at Least One Educational
Barrier
High School Diploma
No College
No High School
Diploma
18,229,340
51,365,340
8,226,214
5,005,943
Speak English
“Less Than Very Well”
5,177,127
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
2011 Realities
•Business processes are transportable and will
follow skill sets and trainability
•Global democratization of education and
access to knowledge and skilled workers
•Traditional approaches to education are fading
(e.g. on-line universities)
• Stackable skills credentials (may be combined with others)
are the new currency of employment
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
What are We Doing To Get Out Of It?
Employers and employees are turning to CERTIFICATIONS
Intent of certification is to inform the public that certified individuals
have demonstrated a particular degree of knowledge and skill
(Fabrey, 1996)
CERTIFICATION
• Is a formal validation of knowledge or skill—based on a qualifying
examination.
(Drake Prometric, 1995)
• Should provide an objective and consistent method of measuring
competence and ensuring the qualifications of technical professionals
(Microsoft, 1995)
• Measures a person’s competence against a given standard — a
criterion-referenced test interpretation
(Shrock & Coscarelli, 2000)
PROBLEM:
700,000 different certificates are awarded each year, but
many are not transportable, transferrable, or stackable
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
Workforce Skills Progression
within and across 16 clusters
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
What are We Doing To Get Out Of It?
The crisis is a great opportunity to make changes that
have been needed for years.
• Skills crisis has been clearly identified
• HS educators are listening (at last!) but they need help to understand
changes that are needed
•Awareness among public (parents, students, job seekers) is
lacking but improving
• Some products and materials for applied skills development are being
developed; McGraw-Hill is playing a leading role
•Adult educators are key as they are close to the majority of
customers
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
What are We Doing To Get Out Of It?
Employers have
Three major concerns
with potential and incumbent employees:
1. Poor work ethic
Mainly a social issue that may be “fixed” because
of new competition for jobs & economic
realities
2. Lack of basic learning skills, i.e. TRAINABILITY
for rapidly changing technologies and careers
3. Want to understand what can people DO,
not just what do they KNOW
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
What are We Doing To Get Out Of It?
In 2004, in 7 states, there was recognition that:
•Employees are mobile and follow career opportunities
•The average worker will change jobs 11 times
from choice or necessity
•Basic skills are defined and common across
industry sectors
•A common skills language was required between
employers & educators
The Career Readiness Certificate was designed to:
1) Certify applied skills & trainability (using a common
language) and
2) Be the basis for stackable, portable credentials across
all industries
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
What is Career Readiness & the CRC?
Career Readiness--readiness to move on to the next phase
of life:
•Further education
•Entry-level work
•Career and advancement
Skill Area
Reading for
Information
Bronze
3
Silver
4
Gold
5
Applied Mathematics
3
4
5
Locating Information
3
4
5
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
Career Readiness Certificate
Levels and Employability
Bronze Level –Core employability skills for
approximately 30% of the jobs
Silver Level - Core employability skills for
approximately 65% of the jobs
Gold Level - Core employability skills for
approximately 90% of the jobs
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
What are We Doing To Get Out Of It?
More than 1.5 million CRCs have been issued across
50 states and territories so far
The CRC:
• Has evolved into the CRC+ in manufacturing,
apprenticeships, hospitality, health care
• Is being used in innovative community college
programs (e.g. in MI and SC)
• Is offered as an additional HS graduation credential
• Basis for NAM training curricula in 30 colleges
• Is an important component of Workforce Connects™
that combines skills awareness with assessments
and job search
www.bolinenterprises.com
©2011
So, we are on our way to solving the problem
but there is a very long way to go and
we need your help !
I hope you will become
• Informed
• Knowledgeable and
• Evangelistic about SKILLS education in our
education system
I can now take your questions . . .