: Center for Education and Workforce

That work is going well and is spurring a more comprehensive transformation of the public schools and greater alignment between higher education programs and business needs. But the payoff is long term. Meanwhile, manufacturers have more immediate skill needs that are not being met. So, ConxusNEO is now focusing on those needs as well. The starting point for meeting those immediate skill needs is reliable and actionable information about which jobs are most difficult to fill and what skills those jobs require. But that information turns out to be in short supply, creating a missing link at a crucial point in the talent supply chain. Enter, the Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) Initiative. 

Although U.S. high school graduation rates are at an all-time high, many employees enter the workforce without the skills that are truly needed to succeed. Recent studies show that essential soft skills such as punctuality, organization, and interpersonal communication are just as important as the hard skills, which now are seen as a basic minimum necessary in order to operate in a particular workplace.

The world is changing in profound ways. This change has brought with it growth, opportunity, and job creation, as well as new risks for workers and communities. For many of these risks, we are ill equipped to manage them. These are the risks that have fueled economic anxiety and job insecurity.

On June 21, the Chamber Foundation will explore the role of high-quality child care in strengthening America's workforce.