by Julie Russo
North Carolina educators and business leaders are facing many challenges when planning for the workplace of tomorrow. This year alone, there will be 22,000 new college graduates here representing 10 percent of the workforce. While the Triangle’s unemployment rate of 7.5 percent in March is lower than the national average, there’s plenty of room for improvement. And there’s also a paradox: a global talent shortage to fill the increasing demand for skilled workers in the emerging fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).
Transforming youth to improve the future workforce was foremost on the agenda at a Raleigh Chamber of Commerce meeting that brought together university officials, education advocates, and members of the business community June 6. The Research Triangle with well established universities, and computer technology, biomedical, and healthcare industries, experienced more job growth this year than in California. President Obama while attending a school in Charlotte, North Carolina today also called for internet connectivity for every child to better prepare students for the demands of a 21st century workplace.
Leaders gathering at the Chamber of Commerce meeting in Raleigh expressed cause for optimism and concern about the prospects for today’s youth, emphasizing the key role that education will play in creating a workforce of the future. Early child care education, teacher training, common core standards, online education, technical training and associate degrees for high school students in early colleges are credited with improving the prospects of students.
These trends are receiving more attention as population growth accelerates. The region will expand from 725,000 people today to more than 1.2 million by 2060. The neighboring town of Cary is experiencing “parabolic growth” with an increase of 40,000 new residents in the last three years, said Chris Seals, a labor market economist, during his Chamber presentation.
A seismic shift in the evolving national labor force is international immigration with big U.S. cities experiencing 100 percent intensity rates compared to the 27 percent intensity rate here in the Triangle, Seals said. To prepare for this trend and boost the region’s prospects for attracting a qualified talent pool, analysts are mining jobs data to determine the kinds of skills needed for today’s labor force. The emerging employee has a “T-shaped” skill set including a deep understanding of a specialty field, in addition to the capacity to converse across broader disciplines. This shift represents the need for an education encompassing knowledge in STEM fields as well as for knowledge in the “soft fields” of communication, collaboration, and critical thinking.
As a result of this shift in the knowledge base required for STEM careers, a widening skills gap is emerging in North Carolina leaving behind 30 percent of the population who only attain an associate’s degree, said Susan Gates, national director of America’s Edge, a youth advocacy organization in Washington, DC. More cause for concern are high school graduation rates delayed for 22 percent of students and reading below grade level for some 60 percent of students, Gates said.
Recognizing the economic benefits of investing in early learning, Governor Pat McCrory recently approved funding for 5,000 more pre-k students in the next four years, as well as a digital learning bill to provide funding for experimental learning materials.
Academic leaders including North Carolina State University (NCSU) Chancellor Randy Woodson and Senior Vice President of Curriculum Bryan Ryan of Wake Technical Community College touted the achievements of their respective institutions. NCSU is the second best public university in the country in STEM disciplines, Woodson said, and is increasingly competitive drawing 23,000 applicants for only 4,200 spots for incoming freshmen. NCSU partnerships with the private sector on its Centennial Campus have resulted in the development of better technologies for improving the SMART grid as well as a new program combining advanced analytics with business, management, and statistics.
Success for the 25,000 students who attend Wake Tech is evidenced by nearly half graduating to four year institutions upon completion of their studies, as well as structured pathways for mid and high level career training in growth markets like game development, criminology and mission critical operations. Students are benefiting from participation in high school early colleges that enable them to gain skills in fields like medical technology while still in high school to earn associate’s degrees at either college or university. Tech saavy students are also benefiting from massive online open courses offered free of charge that create incentive for them to become credentialed in their respective fields.
Leaders from the private sector included Tony Habit, president of North Carolina New Schools, and Don McCorquodale, chairman of the NC Commission on Workforce Development. They spoke about the importance of partnerships between business and academia to boost education funding. Habit attributed Duke Energy’s regional training schools for boosting employment in the energy sector. McCorquodale, is a division director at the private software company SAS. SAS was a lead sponsor of the June 6 education forum.
The interest in education is evidenced by the 1,726 bills on education introduced in the state’s legislature, McCorquodale said, noting that businesses are also stakeholders in the training of students.
“Unemployment in North Carolina is still too high,” he said. “We’re at an important juncture. Business stakeholders understand that government can’t handle all of this. Business must step up.” The Commission is working on software for a job posting site that discovers overlaps between the workforce and business needs.