The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation publishes content on education and related issues. Find and access current and archived items in our database.
Despite historically low unemployment and a growing economy, hiring skilled workers remains a challenge in many of our nation’s key industries, such as manufacturing, construction, information technology, and healthcare. We know America’s young people have talent. Now it’s time to embrace the tools necessary to more effectively discover and guide that emerging talent to high demand careers.
Economic mobility rests on the opportunities that individuals are granted or seek out. Education plays a big part of that, which is why many professionals are now looking for continuous ways to improve their skillsets. But how do you validate that people have earned what they say they've earned? The reality is that people lie about their credentials. The solution? Use advanced technology to make credentials trackable and unfakeable.
As the U.S. economy struggles to break out of economic stagnation, these investments in the different phases of education are indeed crucial, however greater attention should be paid to the role adult education programs play in sustaining and growing American commerce. Only by making these success stories more public and well known can we better position adult education advocates to make their case and secure financial resources for these vital adult education programs.
Adult education programs are crucial to alleviating this gap and helping all Americans achieve economic and social mobility. Educate & Elevate is a national campaign to educate America about the importance of adult education in advancing career and college readiness, and making our workforce more globally competitive.
Cultivating a competent and savvy workforce remains a critical goal to securing the livelihood of the American economy. American businesses know this better than anyone. It’s a problem not easily solved. Matching qualified individuals with these positions requires time and resources. However, from our work at Accredible, we know firsthand that business and professionals succeed when there are increased opportunities for online learning.
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.
From Baton Rouge to Grand Rapids, Austin to Atlanta, and finishing up in Frankfort last month, our 2017 five-city childcare roadshow is complete. We brought together business leaders, policy makers, advocates, and practitioners to discuss the critical role of high-quality early education and care in advancing the workforce of today, and the workforce of tomorrow. The events were a great success and in each state, an energized business community is eager and ready to take the lead in advancing this conversation in their own community.
For years, there has been a disconnect between what businesses want new employees to know before they show up for work and what the applicant pool actually knows. The TPM initiative puts employers in the driver’s seat of workforce partnerships for demand-driven workforce solutions. And it’s working for states like Houston, Kansas, and Kentucky, with success stories from Michigan, Illinois, Virginia, and Arizona soon to come.
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.
