Resources

We are excited to forward the just-released From Hidden Costs to High Returns: Unlocking the Potential of the Lower-Wage Workforce, a ground-breaking report by the National Network of Sector Partners (NNSP) that was funded by the Hitachi Foundation. The report highlights the innovative approaches employers are taking to meet immediate and future workforce needs in today’s challenging economy.

The purpose of NNSP’s research was to document and increase awareness of the innovative approaches companies like Northrop Grumman, CVS, Louisiana’s Bollinger Shipyards, Visiting Nurses Association, Wheatland Tube, and many others are taking to develop their lower-wage workers, and to show that these efforts are good both for business and for workers.

To download a copy of this report, click the link below or go to the Insight’s Center’s website at www.insightcced.org.

Erick Ajax: We're ready to hire, but there's a shortage of workers with the right skills

Published in St Paul’s Pioneer Press

By Erick Ajax

Updated: 07/24/2010 03:52:21 PM CDT

A New York Times article last week highlighted a route that many unemployed Americans are taking to try to re-enter the labor market: Job training. The piece profiled several individuals who had completed training but failed to secure employment, and concluded that federal investments in retraining often don't produce results. It's a conclusion that's out of touch with the realities of many Minnesota employers.

Even now, employers just like my metal stamping company are ready to hire but unable to find workers with the right sets of skills. A national study this year by Deloitte, The Manufacturing Institute and Oracle found that 51 percent of companies report a shortage of skilled production workers.

Prior to the recession, Minnesota was experiencing a skills shortage that will resurface as the economy picks up, particularly our middle-skill jobs that require training beyond high school but not a four-year degree. In 2007, about 49 percent of Minnesota's jobs were in middle-skill occupations, from licensed practical nurses and radiological technicians, to claims adjusters and paralegals, to auto repair diagnosticians and green heating and cooling system installers.

For many manufacturers, the mismatch continues between the kind of skilled workers that are needed and the ranks of the unemployed. We want to hire people who can operate sophisticated computerized machinery, follow complex blueprints and demonstrate higher math proficiency than was previously required of our typical technicians. Public investment in targeted job training today will be less expensive than continuing to extend unemployment benefits or paying higher social-welfare costs longer term for lower-skilled workers or others whose jobs will be gone or changed after the recession.

Job training alone can't solve joblessness, but it has to be part of the solution, particularly to help ensure that we have the skilled workforce that we need after the recession. For example, public investments in job training will upgrade the skills of environmental remediation technicians who will then reclaim shuttered auto plants; the carpenters and welders who will rebuild those shells into new energy-efficient factories; and the machinists and technicians working for companies like mine who will use new, computer-controlled machinery to create products for export.

Training developed in collaboration with specific industries also has proven results. For example, Minnesota's "M-Powered" Program brings together the Precision Metal Forming Association, Hennepin Technical College, and HIRED — a Twin Cities social service agency. M-Powered prepares lower-income workers and workers seeking advancement for good-paying careers in the metal forming manufacturing sector. Trainees take part in a 12-week industry-specific course at the technical college. They also receive career counseling, mentoring and job placement assistance. To date more than 300 men and women have graduated from the M-Powered program. Many are on excellent career ladders, employed at Twin Cities metal forming companies, including my factory.

Fortunately, policymakers have rejected the assumption behind the New York Times article. Recognizing the vital role of job training in an economic recovery strategy, on July 19, members of the U.S. House passed the SECTORS Act with a unanimous bi-partisan vote. The act supports training developed in collaboration with industry partners, a model that ensures individuals can obtain skills that have currency in the labor market now and when hiring picks back up. Minnesota Rep. John Kline, ranking Republican member of the House Education and Labor committee, was key in getting House leadership on both sides to support moving the bill forward.

The SECTORS Act now moves to the Senate. Fortunately, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee that will review the bill. Sen. Franken truly understands the need for workforce development and especially public investments in job training.

Job training alone will not solve our economic challenges. But if we want all Minnesotans to be a part of a recovery, policymakers must invest in specific strategies that have been shown to effectively train workers in skills that have currency in current and emerging industries. It's an economic necessity for Minnesota's businesses and families.

Erick Ajax is a third-generation metalworker and co-owner of E.J. Ajax in Fridley.

Resource

New survey spotlights durability of corporate citizenship in recession

The 2009 State of Corporate Citizenship survey results reveal that, despite the recession, corporate citizenship practices are ingrained in increasing numbers of American businesses. Many business leaders report that attention to corporate citizenship efforts is more important in a recession. As in the 2007 survey, the most recent data show that attitudes of support for corporate citizenship are strong, but there remain some gaps between those beliefs and the practices and investments of some businesses.

New survey reveals obstacles to training and education are threatening U.S. competitiveness and worker prosperity post-recession recovery depends on better trained workforce

A new survey released today reveals that the United States is at risk of losing its competitive edge and American workers' economic potential by not addressing business' growing demand for a better educated and better trained workforce. American workers' unmet needs for further education and training is exacerbating today's unemployment problem and portending long-term trouble for workers and businesses - even after the economy recovers.

The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce

A Conference Board report, "The Ill-Prepared U.S. Workforce," shows that nearly half of the 217 employers surveyed provide remedial training to shore up employees' writing, math and problem-solving deficiencies. Based on data gathered in the second quarter of 2008, the report was co-sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management, the American Society for Training & Development and Corporate Voices for Working Families.

What you study matters: research on economic payoff to community college

New research suggests that economic payoff of attending a community college depends highly on the program of study.

Using a database that includes detailed education and employment histories of 84,000 Florida students who reached the twelfth grade in 2000, this study examines the role community colleges play in enhancing the upward economic mobility of their students. The study finds that students who concentrate in very high-demand fields, such as health care, earn more than $18,000 more than those in low-return fields.

The study includes recommendations for policy.

Thomas Friedman writes that our economic problems will be reversed only when the decline in worker competitiveness reverses

... When we create enough new jobs and educated workers that are worth, say, $40-an-hour, compared with the global alternatives. If we don't, there's no telling how "jobless" this recovery will be.

Thomas Friedman column

The Joyce Foundation’s Work in Progress newsletter features Business Champions.

The Joyce Foundation