Announcing the Ford PAS and Ford NGL Thought Leader Series
This month’s topic:
Reinventing the workforce and bolstering the economy through career academies and more relevant high schools
By Cheryl Carrier Program Director, 21st Century Education Programs Ford Motor Company Fund
Welcome to the first installment of the Ford PAS and Ford Next Generation Learning Community (NGL) Thought Leader Series.
The Purpose of the Thought Leader Series
The purpose of this series, which will be posted to this website, as well as delivered to the community involved in the Ford Partnership for Advanced Studies (Ford PAS) and Ford Next Generation Learning Communities (Ford NGLs) via email once a month, is to provide perspectives and insight into the world of Ford PAS, Ford NGL, Career Academies, and other essential elements of Next Generation Learning.
Next Generation Learning is our term for a range of innovative practices designed to raise achievement and strengthen the workforce. Our purpose is to report on best practices and Indicators of Success; to distill, analyze, and report on new research and trends, as well as to promote other NGL concepts and philosophies, and the many accomplishments of the Ford PAS programs throughout the nation.
Career Academies and NGLs Can Help Drive Economic Recovery
All of us are very aware of the economic pressures facing our nation, our schools and communities, and every business…not to mention, each and every one of us.
There is a growing feeling, among some of the most visionary movers and shakers of the educational arena, people including Dr. Joseph Joyner, who is the Superintendent of St. John’s County Schools in Jacksonville, Florida, (one of our NGLs), that the Career Academy concept is “the engine to drive economic recovery.” We know that through Career Academies, students are improving their academic achievement while gaining the preparation and training needed to enter the workforce of the 21st Century. Dr. Joyner, like so many others, believes education is critical to his state’s future success and growth. “We’re not going to be able to effectively attract more businesses to the state until we have a highly trained, very marketable workforce,” he said. And he acknowledges that business is the lever to make that happen.
Those statements from Dr. Joyner are true not just of Florida, but of every state. Businesses, of all sizes, in all industries, are facing what are possibly some of the biggest upheavals that companies have endured since the Industrial Revolution.
Businesses Experiencing Talent Shortfalls
There are many challenges facing companies today, but none are perhaps so daunting as the shortage of highly skilled American workers. The following statistics give us some insight into the demand for talent, while laying the foundation for understanding the talent shortfall:
• By 2014, 78 million Baby Boomers will be between the ages of 50 and 68.1
• The U.S. economy is expected to grow three to four percent a year while the demand for prime talent will increase 25 percent.2
• In 2007, 86 percent of Human Resources professionals said their companies’ workforce, specifically managers, are not adequately prepared to meet their companies’ future plans, up from 63 percent in 2006.3
A 2003 study by Spherion addressed some of the reasons for the shrinking pool of qualified talent. According to the study, “Within the next decade, the workforce will grow smaller, less experienced, and more ethnically diverse. In 2008, the median age of the workforce is 40. That compares to the median age of 35 in 2000. By 2010, the number of workers age 55 and older will have grown by almost 32 percent, while workers between the ages of 35 and 44 will have shrunk by more than 10 percent.4”
In addition to the tremendous talent gap caused by the exodus of Baby Boomers from the workforce, the Spherion study indicates that, within the next 10 years, U.S. jobs that require two-year college degrees (or higher) will increase 20 percent, including more than 12 million professional specialty jobs and more than 5 million managerial jobs. The supply of U.S. workers with two-year college degrees or higher, however, will fall short of the demand by 33 percent, leading to a shortage of 6 million qualified workers by 2012—and 35 million by 2030.4
The Spherion study found that 75 percent of executives identified the chronic shortage of talent as jeopardizing the pursuit of their organizational goals.
Business is Beginning to Take Notice
If there is a silver lining to all this, it would be that, as I and my colleagues travel all over the country doing our work for the Ford Motor Company Fund, we are finding that there is a growing sentiment that business, in general, is beginning to gain a basic understanding of the Career Academy and CTE concepts. They are also beginning to gain an awareness of how Career Academies can fit into their overall talent acquisition strategies.
In our travels, we are also find that businesses, once so focused on recruitment of students at the college level, are now stretching beyond their comfort zones of college recruitment fairs to finding new ways to develop the companies’ talent pipelines. In general, as the aging workforce marches on toward retirement, many companies understand the importance of actively engaging with high school students in order to increase the number of students graduating
with high levels of motivation and readiness to take on post-secondary challenges.
What that means for all of us involved in NGLs and CTE networks is this: Most businesses are just waiting to be asked to participate on some level in our initiatives. This translates into a tremendous opportunity for all of us. It is up to us to find new and better ways to engage with business to drive the change that is needed in our communities and in our classrooms, and this, in turn, will drive the changes that are most needed for our economy, and for our nation.
ABSTRACT:
In this month’s article, Cheryl Carrier, Program Director, 21st Century Education Programs for the Ford Motor Company Fund, introduces the Ford Thought Leader Series and discusses the talent shortfall facing today’s businesses. Through various research studies, she suggests reasons why NGLs and CTE networks are quickly becoming a key component of companies’ talent acquisition strategies, as well as the key to economic recovery and revitalization.
References/Sources:
1 “Face of the Future: The Aging Workforce,” Workforce Management, October 9, 2006.
2 “Best Practices in Retention,” NEHRA, April 3, 2007.
3 “State of the Talent Nation: Workforce Performance Aligned with Learning is Top Priority for 2007,” Softscape, February 2007.
4 “Retaining Talent for the Next Economic Wave,” Spherion, 2003.