Skills Gap' Leaves Firms Without Worker Pipeline - New England Patriots Forums

PatsWSB47 · 07-05-2011, 10:17 AM

Now here's an area where I think we can use tax breaks for businesses. Lots of jobs on the horizon but no skilled people to hire. Let the business train and educate them.

Quote:

'Skills Gap' Leaves Firms Without Worker Pipeline

By Erika Niedowski

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- John Russo's chemical lab in North Kingstown has been growing in recent years, even despite a deflated economy, and he expects to add another 15 to 20 positions to his 49 employees over the next year.

But the president of Ultra Scientific Analytical Solutions has found himself in a vexing spot, struggling to fill openings that require specialized training in a state where the jobless rate is close to 11 percent, the third-highest in the nation.

"It's very difficult to find the right person, and there's all walks of life trying to find jobs. I honestly think there's a large swath of unemployable," said Russo, whose firm manufactures and supplies analytical standards. "They don't have any skills at all."

He's talking about the so-called skills gap, a national problem that has left businesses without a crucial pipeline of the skilled workers they need in a rapidly changing economy.

***DarrylS*** · 07-05-2011, 10:25 AM

I agree, unfortunately the focus on education in the past ten years after No Child Left Behind has been to prepare kids for standardized tests...

There are a lot of kids who need a completely different track to prepare and train them for the world of work...

How RI will handle is this will be to ignore this need, and do something completely unrelated and then the pols will pat themselves on the back and say job well done... while they ignore the obvious.

PatsWSB47 · 07-05-2011, 10:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarrylS

I agree, unfortunately the focus on education in the past ten years after No Child Left Behind has been to prepare kids for standardized tests...

There are a lot of kids who need a completely different track to prepare and train them for the world of work...

How RI will handle is this will be to ignore this need, and do something completely unrelated and then the pols will pat themselves on the back and say job well done... while they ignore the obvious.

I think business should expect that and have a plan to forge ahead with educating people anyway. Technical schools to train in exchange for a commitment is a win-win. A tax incentive would help too. If it were dedicated to the training then it would not be going to rich CEO's with private jets.

The Brandon Five · 07-05-2011, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarrylS

I agree, unfortunately the focus on education in the past ten years after No Child Left Behind has been to prepare kids for standardized tests...

There are a lot of kids who need a completely different track to prepare and train them for the world of work...

How RI will handle is this will be to ignore this need, and do something completely unrelated and then the pols will pat themselves on the back and say job well done... while they ignore the obvious.

I don't think secondary education is the skills gap they are talking about. For years now, American businesses have been treating employees as interchangeable resources. They stopped investing in training and developing employees, relying instead on raiding each other for needed skills. Then they followed that up with a rash of outsourcing, sending entry-level jobs offshore and thereby emptying the pipeline of available talent to move in to the medium-level positions. Unless we start drafting valedictorians right out of high school and make them managers, this going to continue to be a problem. Meanwhile, the golfers running corporations will continue to whine as in the OP about a situation brought about by their own myopia.

chicowalker · 07-05-2011, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Brandon Five

I don't think secondary education is the skills gap they are talking about. For years now, American businesses have been treating employees as interchangeable resources. They stopped investing in training and developing employees, relying instead on raiding each other for needed skills. Then they followed that up with a rash of outsourcing, sending entry-level jobs offshore and thereby emptying the pipeline of available talent to move in to the medium-level positions. Unless we start drafting valedictorians right out of high school and make them managers, this going to continue to be a problem. Meanwhile, the golfers running corporations will continue to whine as in the OP about a situation brought about by their own myopia.

Like most problems, this isn't something that has one cause / solution, and it certainly can't just be laid at the feet of myopic corporations.

many people now graduate high school with minimal educational attainment. Their skills are, quite simply, weak.

Many kids in recent decades have also been told they need to get a college degree, so rather than learn a trade / skill, they get a college degree that really just replaces what a high school diploma should be.

And when companies do train for specific skills, there is little, if any, loyalty from the employees toward their employer. (And I'm not saying there necessarily should be, but let's not pretend it's anyting but a 2-way street when it comes to employees and emploers being treated as interchangeable)

***DarrylS*** · 07-06-2011, 04:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Brandon Five

I don't think secondary education is the skills gap they are talking about. For years now, American businesses have been treating employees as interchangeable resources. They stopped investing in training and developing employees, relying instead on raiding each other for needed skills. Then they followed that up with a rash of outsourcing, sending entry-level jobs offshore and thereby emptying the pipeline of available talent to move in to the medium-level positions. Unless we start drafting valedictorians right out of high school and make them managers, this going to continue to be a problem. Meanwhile, the golfers running corporations will continue to whine as in the OP about a situation brought about by their own myopia.

IMO it is the beginning, we sell kids a dream that if they go to school for 16 years everything will be rosy, all the while the reality is much different. There is a tremendous need to prepare many kids for the world of work, and most when they graduate are ill prepared.

No Child Left Behind has locked in American Education into a system that only provides for one track, and verification of the results. There is a large body of kids who will not fit into this one size fits all government mandate. Those are the kids who could benefit from training programs in high schools.

Whether or not they are prepared for this job specifically is not the point, the issue is whether or not they have the critical thinking ability and basic value system to adapt to a variety of jobs. Not very confident that as a country we are doing a very good job in this area.

We have descended into a world where standardized tests measure whether or not a child is learning, which has some value, but takes away a lot of focus on preparing non college bound kids for the world of work.

PatriotsReign · 07-06-2011, 06:55 AM

I know 2 young men who just graduated from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst who already have jobs in their career market. Took them both about 1 month to find their job.