A program of the Cape Cod Technology Council.
Workforce
Newsletter Article - July 2007
Recently I was privileged to hear Dr. Edward Gordon speak about global issues affecting the workforce. He is the author of The 2010 Meltdown in which he describes an impending crisis that could take place as a result of a number of simultaneous events. Dr. Gordon’s information points to an increasingly unsustainable labor supply that will affect employers throughout the United States.
To summarize the bad news, we are faced with declining U.S. populations, especially in the number of available workers; an inexorably aging population worldwide; and an increasingly less educated U.S. population. (To see further details behind these predictions, please read "2010: Will there be a meltdown?" published in the Barnstable Patriot.)
Now that is most of the bad news. Is there no good news on the horizon?
Well, yes and no. Dr. Gordon points to education as the great hope in our being able to overcome some of these factors—not only in our K-12 and higher education systems but also in a variety of other settings that can help to transform the lives and careers of our workers. And this is where the local workforce development system plays a roll.
As we look at labor shortages in many occupations, we need to do a better job of preparing individuals to shift their career focus to meet employers’ needs. We need to identify individuals who are currently excluded from technology positions and upgrade their skills. Dr. Gordon refers to these individuals as “techno-peasants,” and he estimates that they make up almost 50 percent of our current workforce. Life-long learning principles will need to be a larger part of our national educational landscape to implement these needed changes.
Here on the Cape, institutions like the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) and the Cape Cod Community College will play a critical role building a sustainable workforce.
In Massachusetts and specifically on the Cape, we are experiencing higher-than-acceptable high school dropout rates. In a recently released report, the state figures are alarming: Less than 80 percent of students are completing high school in four years. On the Cape and Islands, the rate is only slightly better: 84 percent of our students are completing high school. That means that every year some 370 young people in the region drop out of high school.
The Cape and Islands WIB has convened a group of local leaders interested to develop responses to the dropout problem. A number of ideas are on the table, such as the following:
• Create a regional alternative high school.
• Create local school district community partnerships to marshal broad-based expertise to assist local districts in implementing a range of potential interventions.
• Bring a number of outside services into the schools to assist educators in areas that present barriers to some students in the existing learning environment.
• Increase the size of the WIB staff so that its members could work with the schools on issues of dropout prevention and recovery.
These and other interventions to address the graduation rate crisis will be discussed at a regional summit to be held on November 7. Educators, parents, students, and interested regional leaders will convene to focus on the issue, starting the process of finding solutions that will decrease the number of high school dropouts in the region.
Another one of the critical issues, the aging workforce, is a focus area of the Cape and Islands Workforce Investment Board. We are working with the business community to develop strategies that are designed to help local businesses hire and retain workers aged 55 and older as part of their labor supply.
The Cape and Islands Workforce Investment Board is at the forefront of this activity, having started our 55+ program a few years ago. We recognized the importance of meeting local business needs with this “nontraditional” source of human capital.
The WIB has established a job-matching service for businesses to find 55+ individuals to hire. We have also just produced a booklet that provides business owners with detailed information to help them hire and keep 55+ workers.
If you would like a copy of the booklet. please contact Razza Millard at the WIB for a copy. She can be reached at razza@ciwib.org. Businesses who have positions available can contact Virginia Nolan at vnolan@detma.org or at 508-862-6134. She will work with you and refer individuals from our inventory of available 55+ workers who can fill your need for experienced, talented workers.
The Cape and Islands Workforce Investment Board is working to develop insight into many of the issues that affect the ability of local businesses to find sustainable sources of human capital to meet their needs over the next 10 to 20 years
by David Augustinho
Executive Director
Cape & Islands Workforce Investment Board
email:david@ciwib.org
