Among the 50 states, Pennsylvania ranks 46th in the percentage of its
labor force with education levels beyond high school. Currently, only 3% of working-age Pennsylvanians are enrolled in part-time, postsecondary education, compared with 6% for the country as a whole.
What are the 47th, and 48th states? Obvious MS, and AR are at the bottom.
Labor Pains: Closing the 'Skills Gap'
November 22, 2004; Page A2
PITTSBURGH -- One conundrum that continues to vex the U.S. job market is this: Workers can't find jobs, and companies can't find workers.
A Labor Department report released Friday on employment trends by state showed that .... (see the comments) ....
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Labor Pains: Closing the 'Skills Gap'
November 22, 2004; Page A2
PITTSBURGH -- One conundrum that continues to vex the U.S. job market is this: Workers can't find jobs, and companies can't find workers.
A Labor Department report released Friday on employment trends by state showed that nearly 350,000 workers in Pennsylvania were unemployed in October. Yet according to the Pennsylvania Department of Community and
Economic Development, a state agency whose mission is to attract and retain businesses, 24% of businesses in the state can't find enough qualified workers.
This mismatch is explained by what economists call a "skills gap" that is leading to labor shortages -- and wage inflation -- in some sectors of the economy, even as other sectors experience excess labor, which is
putting downward pressures on wages in those industries.
Labor economists contend that closing the gap should be a national priority for the U.S., yet few see easy solutions. The issue is "much talked about and poorly understood," says Michael Handel, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
In theory, workers in a free-market economy should have plenty of incentive to remain competitive in the labor market by getting a good education and acquiring strong skills. But for some reason, that's not happening enough -- especially in heavily industrialized states like Pennsylvania that have relied for so long on manufacturing jobs that didn't require a high level of education.
Among the 50 states, Pennsylvania ranks 46th in the percentage of its labor force with education levels beyond high school. Currently, only 3% of working-age Pennsylvanians are enrolled in part-time, postsecondary
education, compared with 6% for the country as a whole.
[The Education Payoff]
Over the years, the federal government has tried its hand at various training and retraining programs, but the results have been mostly disappointing. Critics say earlier programs often provided inadequate or outdated training, or targeted a specific population -- Native Americans or inner-city residents, for example -- without tying the training to industry needs. Unlike in Japan or China, the decentralized education system in the U.S. has prevented companies and educational institutions from working together more broadly. "A lot of the mission of education resists commercialization," Mr. Handel says.
That is beginning to change, as state governments put pressure on state-supported community colleges and other learning institutions to form partnerships with the business sector. The success of such programs
hinges on the ability of intermediary groups -- whether they are organized by state or local government, industry alliances or community groups -- to coordinate the labor needs of employers with courses offered by schools, while at the same time providing support to workers, including child care, mentoring and transportation.
One such initiative is the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board, which was created under the auspices of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and in response to concerns voiced by several large employers about
the quality of the regional labor force. To determine employers' needs, the board has created nine "clusters" of industry-related companies, from life sciences to advanced materials and diversified manufacturing
to education. The clusters help ensure that training is targeted to industry types in particular regions. In the Lancaster area, for example, workers might be steered toward woodworking jobs, while in the
northern part of the state, training might be geared toward the powdered-metal industry, where 60% of the work force will reach retirement age during the next 10 years.
Not all of the programs in the state are geared to displaced workers. Pittsburgh Digital Greenhouse, established to foster growth of the state's high-technology sector, created a master's-degree program in
advanced electronics that enables three universities to train students. The universities and companies participate in a research consortium. In two years, the group, which has 46 member companies from Cisco Systems
to Sony, has attracted three high-technology companies to the area and helped to produce 63 master's-degree graduates.
But most programs are aimed at people such as Suzette Kineston, who was laid off by the U.S. Postal Service in Pittsburgh two years ago. She visited a career center overseen by the Pennsylvania Workforce Investment Board, which provided guidance and eventually helped to pay for her books and tuition at a two-year nursing program at the Community College of Allegheny County. Not only did the program help her land a job at Allegheny General Hospital, but it also gave her a new perspective on the payoff of education.
The 30-year-old single mother now plans to return to college to earn a bachelor's degree. "With the economy the way it is, you need two or three degrees to have something to fall back on," she says.
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