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A Snapshot of Employer Interest in Early Education in Iowa

Nicole Crain, Executive Vice President, Iowa Association of Business and Industry
Early Childhood Education
Economic Growth
Education
K-12 Education
Women
December 17, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Iowa Survey on Early Education Needs
© 2019 Getty Images
The current unemployment rate in Iowa is 2.5%, and there are currently 40,000 people on unemployment and 60,000 job openings. As historically low unemployment continues, employers are always looking for opportunities to recruit more workers and also to retain their existing workforce. To solve this challenge, Iowa business leaders have increased wages, offered flexible work environments where possible, and expanded benefits. More recently, one of those benefits is childcare.  

Accelerating Childcare Solutions in Oregon

Katy Brooks, CEO, Bend Chamber of Commerce
Community Improvement
Early Childhood Education
Education
K-12 Education
December 10, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Accelerating Childcare in Oregon
© Bend Chamber of Commerce
Like much of the nation, Oregon is in a childcare crisis. There are openings for only one in three children under the age of five in registered childcare centers and in-home providers. This is not only a crisis for families seeking affordable and high-quality childcare, it impacts employers who are struggling to attract and retain talent in a record low unemployment environment. 

Workforce Challenges? NAEP Scores Show U.S. Must Start Solving Them with a Focus on Early Reading

Cheryl Oldham
Competitiveness
Early Childhood Education
Education
K-12 Education
November 7, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Workforce Challenges Solved with Early Reading as a Priority
© 2019 Getty Images
The 2019 Nation’s Report Card, released last week, showed alarming drops in reading and disappointingly middling results in math. This has huge implications for our nation’s future workforce and heartbreaking consequences for families across the country who are trusting our public education system for the most basic of learning goals. 

From John Legend to Apprenticeship's John Lennon: A Wrap-up of Talent Forward 2019

Jaimie Francis
Competitiveness
Data
Economic Growth
Education
Innovation
K-12 Education
Postsecondary Education
STEM
Talent Pipeline Management
Workforce Training
Youth Employment
October 25, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Talent Forward 2019 Wrap-Up
© Photo by Ian Wagreich / © U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Each year, as the Chamber Foundation hosts the Talent Forward national workforce conference, we focus on talent—educating and training, talent tech and data, recruiting, hiring, and upskilling. With no shortage of talent challenges, the opportunities for informative discussion are endless. While a day devoted to dissecting talent-related topics could focus solely on the problems, Talent Forward is all about the solutions.

Market Failure: Our Childcare System is Broken

Julia Barfield, MPH, MSW
Early Childhood Education
Economic Growth
Education
K-12 Education
Women
September 24, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
ECE is a Broken System
© 2019 Getty Images
In this country, the early childhood education system is in market failure. In recent years we have seen the greatest federal funding increases for early childhood education in history, and yet those significant investments just barely make a dent to tackle the need. In 2018, NASEM studied “how to fund early care and education for children…that is accessible, affordable to families, and of high quality, including a well-qualified and adequately supported workforce.” The report concluded that a financial windfall of around $54 billion would be required. 

Report Shows Economic Impact of a Lack of Affordable Childcare in Washington State

Jason Hagey, vice president of communications, AWB
Early Childhood Education
Education
K-12 Education
September 19, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Mounting Costs of Childcare in Washington State
© Association of Washington Business (AWB)
The lack of access to affordable, high-quality childcare isn’t just a problem for families. A new report found that it’s costing Washington businesses more than $2 billion per year in employee turnover or missed work, and the total cost to the state economy tops more than $6.5 billion per year.

The Win-Win Solution for Early Education Infrastructure Challenges

Julia Barfield, MPH, MSW
Early Childhood Education
Economic Growth
Education
Innovation
K-12 Education
September 5, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Twitter Chat: Is Early Ed an Infrastructure Conversation?
On Tuesday, August 27, the Chamber Foundation partnered with Linda Smith of the BPC to host a Twitter chat discussing infrastructure challenges for early childhood education facilities. In a span of 45 minutes, the participants of this chat were able to provide more than one million Twitter accounts with data, research, and case studies arguing for early childhood education to gain a seat at the table where infrastructure conversations are happening. 

Looking at Aptitudes Over Interests to Drive Career Pathways

Amy Lancaster-King, Director of Workforce Development, Metro Atlanta Chamber
Education
K-12 Education
Postsecondary Education
August 29, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Aptitudes Over Interests
© 2019 Getty Images
Atlanta’s economy is growing rapidly. In 2018, employers created 58,400 new jobs, and the workforce increased by 2.8 percent. Demand for new employees also jumped, with more than half a million job openings in the metro area – nearly 10 percent more than 2017. But despite this tremendous opportunity, like other growing areas, the Atlanta region is competing for talent at home and abroad to ensure economic prosperity and competitiveness in the years ahead. 

8 Principles to Build a Strong Foundation for STEM Pathways

Shawn Hardina, Owner and Chief Change Fanatic, Innovation Tech, LLC
Education
K-12 Education
STEM
July 24, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
STEM Pathways
© VEX Robotics Competition, Robotics Education & Competition (REC) Foundation
Successful career pathways are created through deep and meaningful coalitions of organizations. These coalitions bring education, community members, and business leaders together with a shared dedication to meeting society's biggest challenges in a responsible, sustainable, and profitable way. They blur the lines between formal education, community service, workforce development, and economic development. 

How Qualcomm is Inspiring the Next Generation of Innovators

Sara Napolitano Matz
Education
Innovation
K-12 Education
STEM
July 1, 2019
Center for Education and Workforce
Qualcomm 2019
© Qualcomm

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were approximately 8.6 million STEM jobs in May 2015, with the highest jobs in software development, user support, and systems analysts. Despite the high number of jobs, the lack of skilled workers in the labor force allow these positions to go unfilled. To make matters worse, the existing STEM workforce lacks diversity among women and minorities, not representing the emerging workforce of women and underrepresented groups. 

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