News Articles

A strong demonstration of the need for skilled workers can be found in this article.  AT&T CEO states "having trouble finding enough skilled workers to fill all the 5,000 customer service jobs it promised to return to the United States from India."  Read more at this link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080327/tc_nm/att_workforce_dc

Skills for Scotland provides a clear, concise framing of a workforce development strategy. It's a good, short report that provides us some valuable perspective on workforce strategy. Download it here.

Here's the vision that frames the document.

Our vision is for a smarter Scotland with a globally competitive economy based on high value jobs, with progressive and innovative business leadership:

• Where people can work in teams, are creative andenterprising and hungry to continually learn new skills.They expect to realise their aspirations and are equipped to achieve their potential in a constantly changing world.People are motivated to contribute to Scotland’s future and are confident that they can do so.
• Where people are entrepreneurial and innovative; smallbusinesses are encouraged to grow and there is strong, coherent support for businesses of all sizes. Migrant workers and overseas students play a valuable role in an expanded workforce and economy.
• Where employers improve productivity by investing in their own staff and are able to access a skilled workforce that is increasingly literate and numerate with good ICT and problem solving skills.
• Where learning and training providers work as one system and thanks to wider use of technology and e-learning, barriers of geography and rurality have been reduced.

Late last year, the Urban Institute produced an important report, called "America's Forgotten Middle Skill Jobs". The report may be important point that the demand for jobs in the so-called "middle tier" of skills will remain strong. These are jobs that require postsecondary education but less than a four year college degree.

About half of our national employment falls in the jobs in the middle-skill range. At the same time, about 45% of all job openings between 2004 and 2014 will fall into job categories in the middle skill range.

The authors of the report highlight the fact that policy often focuses too much on the 25% of jobs that require a four year college degree in above.  Not enough attention is paid to these middle skilled jobs which comprise almost half of our workforce.

A recent article in Maine highlighted the importance of middle skilled jobs in that state.  Read more.

You can download a copy of the Middle Skill report here .

The Interagency Aerospace Revitalization Taskforce, led by the U.S. Department of Labor, last week released its first assessment of talent demands in the aerospace industry.

The report offers strategies for meeting the aerospace industry's growing talent demands. The major challenge: despite the high income levels that these businesses generate, young people are neither prepared nor inclined to enter the field.

You can download the report here.