By Shannon Holmes
February 9, 2004

Rockford (IL) Mayor Douglas P. Scott, newly appointed Chair of the Workforce Development Standing Committee, opened the meeting stressing the importance of workforce training in the current state of the economy and urged fellow mayors to become a voice for the local workforce system.

The Changing Face of America's Workplace

Addressing the Standing Committee on Workforce Development was former Wisconsin Congressman Steve Gunderson, Partner and Managing Director of the Greystone Group, Inc., discussing what he called the "fifth revolution — the changing face of America's workplace". Gunderson informed Committee members that there is currently a 16.1 percent unemployment rate among youth 16-24 years of age who are missing out on critical work experience and skills needed to meet the demands of the labor market. He said that within the next six years 21 percent of the baby boomer population will leave the workforce and there will not be enough skilled and qualified workers to take their place.

"There is going to be the biggest shift of passing the workforce from one generation to the next, the biggest that our country, or any other, has ever seen and there may not be the capacity to support the shift," said Gunderson.

Gunderson also described how the workforce is becoming increasingly diverse, with almost all labor force growth occurring in immigrant populations. At the same time, job and skill requirements are changing in our knowledge-based economy, and more jobs are going overseas. "Either America shows the world how to educate and train a diverse workforce or we become a third world country," stated Gunderson.

Gunderson said that the key to addressing the skill shortage is to move away from the "high school to a four-year college" mentality, and rather focus on high school "plus" education and training. Gunderson further stated there are skills that are going to be in high demand within the next six to ten years that will require a high school degree plus vocational education or technical training or community college.

"President Bush's Community College Initiative is what the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 was intended to do and I am glad to see that this will be incorporated into the overall workforce system," indicated Gunderson. He closed by urging mayors to find a way to communicate this emerging crisis to policy makers and the media.

Early Work Experience & Education Key for Future Workforce

Also addressing the Standing Committee on Workforce Development was Paul Harrington, PhD, Associate Director of the Center for Labor Market Study at Northeastern University, who gave overview of the state of the economy and the effect that the recession has had on the youth population of this country.

"Even though there has been an 8 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in the last two quarters, there have been over 800,000 jobs lost," stated Harrington.

Unlike recessions of the past, this recession has been a white-collar one, targeting information and computer technology. Though the unemployment rate is decreasing, the numbers of people dropping out of the workforce — who are not counted in the unemployment rate — is rising. In addition to increasing numbers of people who have given up looking for work, in this recession there has been a rise in self-employment, contract employment, and other segments of workers that are "off the payroll", referred to as the "black labor market".

The greatest impact and greatest risk has been on the 16-24 year olds, with a rate of 82 percent joblessness with just about half of that job loss in cities. Harrington stressed that early work experience and skills (writing, reading, and math) are critical to the development of basic behavioral traits.

Harrington said, "Learning how a job atmosphere works and developing career pathways in the adult labor force is vital to youth succeeding in the workforce and helps to decrease the dropout rate because the youth have a sense of connectedness."

He added that over the past 12 — 14 years there has been no progress with dropout rates across the country and that dropout rates have been underestimated for years. By 2010 the youth population will rise by 12 percent and the dropout rate is expected to rise simultaneously. There are over 6 million disconnected youth in this country, out of the workforce, school, employment, or not in the military and they need to be reconnected.

Harrington concluded by informing the Standing Committee that in order to deal with the recession and the economy three things were needed: a strong economy for an effective workforce, a strong stimulus package to help revive the economy, and a way to tackle the youth issue in the workforce to stop the vicious cycle of dropouts and no jobs.

"Educating and training the youth population will make them productive members of the workforce. After all, they are the future of the workforce and our country," concluded Harrington.