With the publication of today's monthly jobs report, unemployment in the US has fallen to 3.8%, the lowest it's been since early 2000. A MarketWatch article in May said that "for the first time ever, there's a job opening for every unemployed worker". Organizations across the industry spectrum are scrambling to find the help they need. This is good news if you are a job seeker with the right skills and experience - and in the desired location - that make you a fit for the rising number of open jobs in the US.
This rising tide of job openings isn't benefiting everybody, though. The Bureau of Labor Statistics chart below shows the labor force participation rate (LFPR) trend over the last 20 years. Applied to people 16-64 years old, the LFPR represents the sum of employed people plus unemployed people seeking a job divided by the civilian non-institutionalized population.
You can see that this metric has declined overall (red line) in the last 20 years. This analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta cites a number of reasons why this is true - an aging workforce and their attendant health issues, discouraged workers who've given up looking, and the impact of the opioid crisis, among others. You can also see that this decline is much more pronounced among young people 16-19 years old. Certainly many in this age group are in school - but that would have been the same for this age group 20 years ago as well.
Perhaps some of this decline is attributable to young people taking unpaid internships to build their resumes. This cohort is likely earning college degrees and will enter paid employment as they earn those credentials. What's also going on, though, is the growing population of "disconnected" or "opportunity" youth. According to Opportunity Nation, an advocacy organization focused on closing the opportunity gap for young people, there are over 5.5 million (1 in 7 young adults aged 16-24) who are neither in school or employed. This ranges from a high of 17.4% of this age group in New Mexico to a low of 7.2% in New Hampshire.
Clearly, these young people will need help to enter the job market. I've written before about organizations like UTEC and CHAP that connect entry level workers with training and job opportunities. Just this week, I saw this story from the South Bend Tribune about how the public school system is adding a "Grade 13" program to boost the workplace readiness of student going directly from high school to work. According to the article "Companies say they can teach new workers the technical skills but that's more difficult with “soft skills,” such as communication and reliability".
My first job was helping with administrative work at a fish processing plant. Full disclosure - my Dad was the boss. I had a foot on the ladder with no effort required on my part. My first job outside the family business was working in a hospital lab during college - where a coworker kindly told me that I never stopped whistling and singing to myself and that I needed to quiet down. Over the course of those first few jobs in my teens and early twenties, I learned how to be a productive member of a team as I was shaped by those jobs.
We all have to learn what it takes to make it at work - from showing up on time, to how to dress, and how to navigate a relationship with supervisors and coworkers. That transition is never easy. What's going on in your organization or your community to help disconnected youth take that first step?
Featured image on post courtesy of rawpixel@rawpixel
Today's guest blog post is by Peggy Walton, Senior Director of Workforce Readiness at Corporate Voices for Working Families. Corporate Voices advocates for family-friendly policies for low income workers. Kronos is a Corporate Voices partner organization, as are a number of our clients.
At a time when national leaders are looking to America's 1,200 community colleges to help fuel an economic transformation, a new report from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) spotlights both great opportunities and serious challenges ahead. Reclaiming the American Dream: Community Colleges and the Nation's Future details community college "student success rates that are unacceptably low, employment preparation that is inadequately connected to job-market needs, and disconnections in transitions between high schools, community colleges, and baccalaureate institutions." Considering the national imperative to add 20 million post-secondary educated workers over the next 15 years, these are serious indictments for higher education institutions tasked with preparing a globally competitive workforce and ones to which employers look for the next generation of talent. As stated by John-Anthony Meza, Vice President for Workforce Readiness at Corporate Voices and advisory board member at the Workforce Institute at Kronos in their latest book, Elements of Successful Organizations, “Not enough young people are attending college, and those that do are not learning what they need to succeed after graduation”.
Corporate Voices for Working Families commends AACC and its 21st-Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges for recommending a new vision for America's community colleges. Our corporate members share the commitment to "Reclaiming the American Dream". U.S. employers have much at stake in the success of community colleges and the students they are educating for the workforce of tomorrow. Moreover, employers can–indeed, must–be a part of the solution, by helping to ensure that college coursework aligns with the knowledge and skills they require of their new employees, and by helping working students juggle the demands of school and their job.
As part of its “Learn and Earn” micro business case study series, Corporate Voices has documented a range of best practice talent development partnerships between businesses and education providers - frequently community colleges. These models help bridge the skills gap for employers, while encouraging and/or supporting current and future employees' attainment of post-secondary credentials with labor market value - the most significant benchmark for achieving economic sustainability. Learn and Earn partnerships provide a real return for these leading companies.
For example, the Western Association of Food Chains, a non-proï¬t business organization of over 40 retail grocers, including large corporations such as Kroger, Safeway and SuperValu/Albertsons, as well as a number of regional companies and independent stores established the Retail Management Certificate Program with 135 community college partners in 10 western states. This certificate program provides these employers with a more educated and high-performing workforce, and helps establish a defined career pathway aligned with educational attainment.
Education-and-business partnerships like this one create models for ways in which community colleges can meet student success targets in connection with their labor markets. This was highlighted in the Institute's Elements of Successful Organizations book in the chapter Business and Education Partnerships: Creating Pathways to Employment. Moreover, Corporate Voices' publication, Business and Community College Partnerships: A Blueprint, is a tool that helps guide the formation of these partnerships.
Corporate Voices agrees with AACC President and CEO, Walter Bumphus, who acknowledges that individual colleges have demonstrated success, but said, "We haven't done a [great] job of replicating these practices across the country." Corporate Voices and its employer members stand ready to join community colleges to replicate best practices like Learn and Earn, and support this initiative to “Reclaim the American Dream.”
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