Connecticut needs to develop skilled work force

One positive sign in a still-struggling economy is the steady growth in manufacturing jobs. But this development has focused attention on a new problem. Many of the workers who lost jobs during the Great Recession do not have the skills manufacturers are demanding. The move toward greater automation requires workers who can operate computerized machinery, utilize higher math skills and follow multifaceted design instructions.

In a recent article, The New York Times dramatically illustrated the gap between worker skill sets and job demands. Ben Venue Laboratories, located in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, received plenty of applications for its drug-making enterprise. But of the 3,600 applications reviewed, the company found only 47 people to hire and is struggling to fill 100 positions. One sticking point was a Ben Venue test requiring ninth-grade math skills and the ability to read and comprehend instructions.

Since the start of the year, manufacturers have added 126,000 jobs, only about 6 percent of the total slashed during the recession, but the start of a recovery nonetheless. The country cannot afford a lack of qualified candidates to stop that trend and send more of those jobs overseas.

A report released in June by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce forecasts that by 2018, 63 percent of all jobs will require at least some post-secondary education. Employers will need 22 million new workers, the report projects, but will fall short by 3 million workers without a change in course.

"America needs more workers with college degrees, certificates and industry certifications. If we don't address this need now, millions of jobs could go offshore," said the center's director, Anthony P. Carnevale.

The positive news is that this challenge could be an opportunity for Connecticut if the state acts to capitalize on it. Connecticut has a work force with strong technical skills and an extensive university system. While poor performance in its urban centers remains a major problem for Connecticut, overall its public school students outperform those in many other states.

Based on our interviews with the candidates for governor, all seem to recognize that Connecticut has to do a better job of aligning education and training with the types of jobs employers will need to fill. If that can be done, it would provide the opportunity for turning around the chronic unemployment levels in the state's cities.

Even in the midst of the recession, eastern Connecticut has emerged as a pioneer of sorts in the delivery of training and education to unemployed workers at CT Works Career Centers in New London, Norwich and Willimantic. Such efforts have landed workers entry-level design and engineering jobs at Electric Boat and helped shipyard workers transition to design jobs, said John Beauregard, executive director of the Eastern Connecticut Workforce Investment Board.

For the fourth summer, the board is providing its Youth Pipeline Program that introduces high school students to job opportunities and necessary skills in economic growth sectors - health care, green jobs and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Using federal grants, the five-week program will expose more than 600 students to career opportunities.

Halfway through a three-year program, the CT STEM Jobs Initiative has provided guidance to more than 200 individuals seeking new skill sets to compete in a changing job market.

By combining individual initiative with educational and training opportunities, Connecticut can again become a state that grows jobs.