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Home / Washington Business - May/June 2005 / Washington’s Aging Workforce: Are We Prepared to Replace It? |
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Washington’s Aging Workforce: Are We Prepared to Replace It? |
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Written On: May/June 2005 |
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Written By: by Shawn Sullivan |
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As Washington’s workforce approaches retirement age, state-run community and technical colleges are hurriedly constructing plans to fill rising gaps in skilled labor. Laboring at the head of this strategic nightmare are the Washington State Board of Community & Technical Colleges, the Employment Security Department, and the Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board.
All three agencies are preparing for the inevitable, pending retirement of baby boomers working in skilled labor industries. "Skilled workers are what drive our economy," Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges Director of Workforce Education Jim Crabbe said. "Many of the state’s highly trained employees are baby boomers ready to retire, and we are trying to get ready for it by deciding which programs to run based on demand." These agencies describe demand in specified skilled trades in their research as "skills gaps."
The Employment Security Department assists the board with demand research and analysis. "We rely on three research sources in projecting demand requirements in the trade industry: an occupational estimates and projections list, the number of unemployment insurance claims, and a job vacancy survey," Employment Security Department Research Analyst Alexander Rubenstein said.
After compiling the results from the research, employment security sends it to the state board, which then distributes it to every community and technical college in Washington. These institutions then allocate enrollment in existing programs or create new programs to satisfy any gaps in the workforce.
"Colleges in Washington decide which programs to run based on demand," Crabbe said. "All new professional programs requiring more than 20 credits start at the board with the submission of a letter of intent. Before any new program is initiated, the business and labor communities, as well as other educational institutions, must approve it by committee prior to its inception."
The most important factor in determining where the demands are is the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board’s Employer Survey. The workforce board sends the survey to thousands of businesses across the state asking owners and CEOs about skilled labor shortages.
The board for community colleges takes the results from the survey and places incentives for colleges that assist in filling demands. "Data is one layer, but we want schools to have relationships at the local level," Crabbe said. "Every college has an advisory committee composed of local business owners and employees." While college faculty members still participate in the committee’s quarterly meetings, college bylaws excluded them from making decisions that alter the degrees or programs offered to students.
Businesses that have larger stakes in the training of prospective employees participate more frequently in the committee process. Some businesses invest in the colleges through donations of specialized equipment or standardized process ideas that are required for gainful employment after college.
After this collaborative process takes place and the programs designed to fill gaps are in place, the colleges, the business community, the workforce board and the board for technical colleges periodically review the program’s effectiveness and determine if demand still exists. If they find the program no longer fills the needs of the state’s workforce, or if the demand is no longer present, the board eliminates the program. This serves as a check on the system to prevent the granting of too many degrees in specific fields.
Both employment security and the state board continually conduct research to ensure the satisfaction of skills gaps and that every community or technical college only offers degrees actually needed. With the help of the business community and labor, Washington’s community and technical colleges constantly change their curriculum to fit demand in skilled labor.
Where is the Demand?
Demand in skilled labor is not where you would most expect it. According to Washington State Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board’s Employer Survey 2004, one of the largest difficulties in finding qualified applicants is, "About 85 percent [of employers] had difficulty finding applicants with problem-solving skills, communications skills, or positive work habits and attitudes." This difficulty posed the biggest problem currently facing workforce, employment security and the state board for community colleges.
"We are finding that our students are not only in need of education skills, but they also require basic work ethic or employability skills," Crabbe said. "We are trying to incorporate workplace skills with technical skills to better prepare students for life after college." The conundrum is the difficulty in teaching such skills to people who have problems getting to work on time.
Other areas of demand in skilled labor include apprenticed-based jobs such as specialized construction, millwrights, tailors and butchers, while other areas like agricultural workers, nurses, forestry workers, farmers and engineers require, at a minimum, two-year college degrees. Most of the trade-specific jobs need a state-approved apprenticeship program in order for people to find gainful employment.
"The board dedicates a significant portion of funding to trades and apprenticeship programs," Crabbe said. "At any given point, our state’s community colleges teach more than 10,000 students enrolled in apprenticeships. We represent 90 to 95 percent of the classroom learning through apprenticeship programs."
Currently, community and technical colleges across the state offer several degrees in these trade-related fields. Seventeen colleges around the state offer degrees in agricultural-related fields, 30 offer degrees in engineering, 25 offer degrees in mechanics, and eight offer programs involving avionics.
Studies show as the core of our skilled workforce approaches retirement age, qualified and determined replacements become increasingly hard to find. Washington’s community colleges, workforce, the state board and employment security have started to patch this ever-increasing problem facing the business community, but more work needs to be done. In the future, as demand in trade-related industries increase, communication between the business community, state agencies and education providers is vital to ensure continued improvement in the higher education system.
Editor’s Note: AWB provides three representatives to the Workforce Training and Coordinating Board. In addition, AWB operates the Institute for Workforce Development and Economic Sustainability to help combat the growing shortage of skilled labor. For more information, contact Mike Hudson at MikeH@awb.org.
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