Given all that has, and is being said, in Augusta and in the media about work force development, economic development, education and training, and even welfare reform in Maine, it seems prudent to reflect on a number of pressing realities and their impact on the future of our state’s work force that were highlighted in a study conducted by Georgetown University — the results of which were featured in the June 20, 2010 issue of the Bangor Daily News.
The national study projected a shortage of skilled workers in the United States and Maine by 2018.
John Dorrer, then the director of the Maine Department of Labor Center for Workforce Research and Information, asserted: “Maine, like the rest of America, will need more college educated workers than it will have. It’s a problem that needs to be addressed now, because it takes time to solve. Our employers won’t have the workers they need in 2018, if we don’t act today.”
This work force development challenge presents itself at a time when an estimated 65 percent of the projected American work force in 2020 is already beyond the reach of our public school systems.
Despite this reality, the conversation in Maine, the oldest state in the nation, continues to focus on retooling secondary school education as a means of meeting our state’s work force development needs. While improving secondary schools is crucial, we must also underscore the need to increase post-secondary achievement in our state among adults in need of literacy, numeracy, life, work, post-secondary and career skills.
Toward this end, the Maine Department of Education’s Office of Adult Education appointed a task force in 2009 to spearhead development of a career pathways work force development initiative called Maine ACCESS (Adult Career and College Education Service System). The Maine Career Pathways Task Force created an initial framework document and hosted an institute last March with the specific aim of strengthening and bringing together a number of existing assets in our state that are widely recognized as priority components in successful adult work force development initiatives.
Those components include a strong, responsive adult education system; college involvement; local, regional and state political support and leadership; employer and community-based partner engagement; and comprehensive support services.
Although developing an effective career pathways approach to work force development in our state will be challenging, now is the time for state leaders to back the development of this approach. The varied entities that must be fully engaged in moving the Maine ACCESS work force development project forward continue to operate, to a significant extent, within their respective service silos.
When services are siloed, the result is a “leaky pipeline” for preparing adults to earn occupational certifications or degrees in high-need, high-growth, high-wage career fields and to achieve financial tipping points leading to enhanced levels of self or family economic sufficiency. Maine deserves better.
We have begun to address this challenge in the St. John Valley through the formation of a local Career Pathways Task Group which already has seen its early efforts bear fruit through the development of Holistic, Integrated, Relevant Employment Education, or HIRE — a partnership between seven Aroostook and Washington County Adult Education programs and the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
Through this partnership, adult learners in a “digital cohort” will receive education and training in the law enforcement occupational sector employing the UMFK online Certificate in Criminal Justice and the availability of literacy-based instruction and other critical supports provided by local adult education programs.
The HIRE Education partnership is a precise representation of the responsive, strategic work force education and training efficiencies for which our governor has been calling. Initiatives like these can proliferate throughout Maine with the tangible and immediate backing and support of state leaders.
Peter Caron is director of adult and community education for SAD 27 headquartered in Fort Kent. Scott Voisine is dean of community education at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Both are members of the Maine Career Pathways Task Force and the St. John Valley Career Pathways Initiative Task Group which endorses this Op-Ed.
It would be helpful if the exact jobs and skills needed by job seekers were published. Also a couple of minor details like where are they and what do they pay. Do they pay enough for someone to raise a family on? Do they offer the health and retirement benefits that a young family needs?
“When services are siloed, the result is a “leaky pipeline” for preparing adults to earn occupational certifications or degrees in high-need, high-growth, high-wage career fields and to achieve financial tipping points leading to enhanced levels of self or family economic sufficiency. ”
Are you kidding me, who in hell talks like this in the State of Maine?
It gets better “adult learners in a “digital cohort” , “local Career Pathways Task Group which already has seen its early efforts bear fruit through the development of Holistic, Integrated, Relevant Employment Education, or HIRE —
I have two advanced degrees both in engineering and deal with a lot of very intelligent people and for the life of me I have never once heard any of them talk like that. If the authors of this article are representative of the type of people we have in charge of our educational system it is no wonder we are turning out kids who can not read, write or do simple math. I don’t know about the rest of you but this article sounds a lot like Self-impressed, Highly educated, Idiotic, Talk (I will leave it to you to figure out the acronym) .
Absolutely agree. The bloviation is strong in this one.
Lol…25 yrs in Electrical Engineering and I never heard that kind of lingo either….Love the acronym…just what us unskilled people need is a little more Special High Intensity Training..
Sounds like 90% of the government workers i have heard. Especially those associated with education. Pompous, condescending , arrogant, and self important.
And with the actual intelligence of a brick.
It’s like you’re describing yourself.
Are you employed in education or government?
Agriculture.
I think its a case of ‘If we can’t baffle them with our birliance, we’ll blind them with BS’.
Skilled ? You must mean perfect credit, no gaps in work history, even though you’ve been laid off for 2 yrs, AND you better pee in a cup, give blood and turn over your first born child ! All for the magnificent low wage of $10/hr !!! Keep it. I’ll take my chances with welfare. THAT is why you can’t fill these jobs…..
EXACTLY
But according to people in here you are suppose to take any job you can get even if it is part time an low wages of 7:50 an hr.
Yes you are. Until something better comes along.
I was never too proud to shovel sh1t or work a minimum wage job to put food on my families table. Once went from a $35,000 dollar a year position to under $10,000 the next year. That is life. Sometimes it stinks.
What makes it worse and stink longer is attitudes like yours and “Dude”. Not that I expect either of you to ever figure it out.
Get real. You’re not operating in the current reality. The job market isn’t the same as it used to be even just 5 years ago. Putting a minimum wage job on your resume after having a formal education is a career death sentence. Be prepared for the interview questions (if you get any) about why you chose a job irrelevant to your degree. Also, try even getting an interview for a minimum wage job after getting a degree. They won’t take you because you’re overqualified and know you’re only there until something better comes along.
Keep acting holier than thou though, keep acting like you are such a better person than others. I’m sure that makes you feel great.
Thank you for the example of someone who will never get it. You demonstrate the qualities that are driving America into becoming a third world country.
The qualities I stand up for are self respect and self esteem that are real and have been earned by actions and decisions. Taking responsibility for ones self and family.
The only problem with putting that minimum wage job on your resume is when an elitist like you is doing the hiring who looks down on someone actually willing to work and do what is necessary to provide for their family. On that resume you need to take that minimum wage job, (that you personally think of as negative and beneath you), and point out the positives such as willingness to work and other character positives.
The practice of not hiring someone with a degree for a minimum wage job is real and misguided in most cases. Anyone hiring for ANY minimum wage position knows that any worker hired at that rate is going to leave at the first opportunity of earning more money. Anyone actually willing to work such a job long term is going to lack motivation and usually will be a poor worker at best.
Like I said, you’re not operating in reality. You’re just making assumptions about strangers. It is factually true that taking a job you’re overqualified for hurts your chances of advancing later on. That’s fact. Employers are reluctant to take on overqualified workers in the first place because they know the time spent training them probably won’t pay off. That’s fact.
You can keep your diatribes about strangers to yourself. They’re not based in fact.
“It is factually true that taking a job you’re overqualified for hurts your chances of advancing later on. ” Since you are employed in agriculture you would know this how? Or is it just another talking point you have accepted as fact? Then again, it does point to a liberal education and the common belief by college graduates these days that they should get a $100,000 job and the corner office right out of school. To heck with paying their dues and actually learning something about the business they are applying for a job in.
“Employers are reluctant to take on overqualified workers in the first
place because they know the time spent training them probably won’t pay
off.” This is completely true if you are talking about jobs requiring a large skill set or extensive training or experience to learn and do well. Such jobs rarely only pay minimum wage.
I guess you didn’t notice that I agreed with you that this practice does exist. But that I believe it to be misguided at best. Reading comprehension?
I have both anecdotal proof from relatives and from reading the statistics. I understand you agreed with me in part, but you seem to believe that people can wish away the discriminating employers through sheer force of will. It doesn’t work that way. Just because you don’t like the complaints and concerns of another, it doesn’t mean you should just dismiss it as the rantings of a liberal elitists. You want to talk about arrogance, how about that for starters?
Many college graduates are accepting unpaid positions and deferring paying back their loans because they believe any relevant experience can help. Many are accepting positions in their chosen fields that they could have gotten right out of high school because they believe any relevant experience can help. You are painting with a broad brush and it is so erroneous and offensive. You clearly understand little about the current job market and what it’s like for graduates. But like I said, keep calling them lazy and entitled, whatever makes you feel good, regardless of reality, right?
I never said that people could wish away the discrimination of employers. That is an assumption of yours. Of course employers discriminate. It’s rampant, even in government where you appear to believe all is fair and equal. I have a relative who was told outright he would not get the government job he was fully qualified for with his bachelors degree unless he got a masters degree. Why? Because there is such a glut of people with bachelors degrees and because the quality of that degree has been watered down. This is a consequence of a national policy of college educating more people than there are jobs for that degree. He got the Masters and he got the job shortly there after.
I know another individual that works for a private consulting firm. Makes BIG bucks and is an acknowledged expert at what he does. He related to me how many times he has been approached by engineers at places he has been working about coming to work for them. He then informs them he does not have a college degree, ANY degree. Without exception he has then been told that the company where he is working would not even look at or consider an application from him to work there without a college degree on the resume.
It’s all bu11sh1t. But this is the system that progressives, especially from the education sector, have created.
The fact is that the whole “get a college degree” mantra is a crock. We are educating more people, especially in liberal arts areas, for degrees than there are jobs requiring those degrees. Supply and demand. Basic economics. This pushes down wages among other things. At the same time new government rules and regulations are requiring advanced education beyond HS even for jobs that people used to do just fine with only a HS level diploma. That is nothing more than interference with the market to create demand.
The system is f**ked and progressive policies and ideology are at the root cause. Notice, I did not say either democratic or republican policies. The progressive disease has infected both. The reason that so many associate these policies with democrats is because in general the democrats have promoted and proposed a more radical position than the republicans. In my view, where I look at results and actions rather than words and rhetoric, there isn’t much difference between them.
As for the broad brush. You really need to look in a mirror.
As for anecdotal evidence I could repeat a dozen stories from people I know in HR that are constantly amazed by the expectations and even demands made by recent college graduates applying for openings.
And you are also right in that there are some willing to make real sacrifices in order to break into their chosen field.
In the old days 60’s you could live very well in minimum wages an pay all your bills with no problem try that today an see how far you get
You are comparing apples to oranges. The standard of living in the 60’s was completely different. Smaller houses, simple TV’s and no cable, no cd’s vcr’s or dvd’s, no internet bill or computers, simpler cars, less prepared food and eating out, no microwave ovens, etc. The list of what has changed could fill several pages
No im not comparing apples to oranges
And what exactly are our Maine College grads to do for work between now and 2018? The mind set here is that we should not progress with new industry. That our beautiful state is for looking and not touching.Until the elitist few here in the State lose control of Maines industrial progress, our main focus willbe to put out money for other States to enjoy our high level of education here in Maine.
I feel the issues are multi faceted. To get a degree in the state is going to cost you $60,000 and then you will be over qualified for the corporate greedy folks to pay you a LIVABLE wage, therefore you leave the state of Maine. Most jobs don’t take a rocket scientist…..this discourages people from getting a formal education. It’s just a way for all the corporate greed to continue by telling you “your not educated enough, therefore we’ll pay you a non livable wage or “You’re over qualified” this job only pays a non livable wage. It’s all insulting and self serving.
And this is the result of the system government and education elitists have created. Isn’t it wonderful.
What will happen if lapage gets his way forced people to take any job they are qualified for. The first thing that will happen companies will pay minimum wages an they MITE be lucky to get benefits
Skilled worker shortage, yeah if you want to go into the medical feild . Thats all i have seen that companys are looking for in the state of Maine . I think the headlines should read Quality Job Shortage !
There is no shortage of skilled workers. There is however a shortage of skilled worker pay. And there is your trouble. The failure of wages to keep pace with inflation is the single biggest problem with our economy today, period. Money that used to go towards keeping the wages in line with inflation now ends up in a handful of safes while the rest of us watch our standard of living slide right into the toilet, or down to that of the average Chinese worker.
Voice, you are closer to the truth than you know. The current mess we are ALL IN is the result of not just complete mis-management of the economy but the same reason that the Great Depression occured, namely the artifical restriction of CASH FLOW. Bank’s have so much actual cash just sitting in their vault’s, not going anywhere, that needs to circulate in order to revive the economy that it’s sickening. I find it almost criminal that this entire mess, including the deficit that George the 2nd left us, could be solved by the Bank’s simply releasing of this cash back into the economy and yet the Federal Reserve continues to allow these same bank’s, that recieved and are still sitting on record amount’s of bail-out money, to sit on even more cash or financial credit’s than they know what to do with. I may not be a Ron Paul supporter (but I have my bottle of GERITOL handy :] ) but in this instance Paul may be more right than a great many of us are prepared to accept. Every time, as economic history show’s, that a country restrict’s, or allows, it’s currency to be restrained, that country has a huge economic depression. Why, if an 80 yr old Congressman can see it, and we can’t see it as well as he can, is a reason for all of us to start asking some very pointed question’s. And do so without worrying about who get’s caught with their ‘short’s’ down.
The recent mortgage settlement announcement should give us all a reason to wonder just who is in charge of the Federal Reserve. If the Fed ever got off it’s collective wisdom, and put the Banking and Financial sector’s ‘short and curly’s’ under public scrutiny, these same settlement’s that are now seen as a ‘wonder’ might be seen for what they are, namely these same Sector’s trying to buy their way out of being put outta business, where they should have been in the 1st place. And when you get this kind of money circulating back into the economy, it creates business’s, which both provide tax revenue and the needed worker’s who need training. It’s not such a big problem when it’s broken down into steps. What’s the big step is opening the money flow. And the Fed, and Congress, are the one’s responsible for that. Now, who’s gonna step up and make the 1st move ? Nov 12th is approaching and the voter’s are going to be reading their bank statement’s in the voting booth. The writing is on the wall.
Simplistic view.
If all that money starts flowing the GDP will look great. But it will be an artificial increase with no real strength. Mostly inflation and inflation will hurt the poor and those on fixed incomes the worst.
Your cure is worse than the disease. And I guess you either missed or overlooked most of Ron Pauls economic message.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion sir. Even if it’s driven by by an old man who’s look on life has been driven by senility.
Pay Them and They Will Come!
Not really buying this narrative. If you look, there are plenty of skilled workers, the problem is that employers aren’t willing to take on unexperienced workers. Fresh out of college? Forget about it.
I find it interesting that what I see is completely different. I work as a career counselor and the majority of unemployed folks I see either have a marketable degree with a great skill set or a significant amount of valuable experience. These people are told they are ‘over-qualified.’ On the other end of the spectrum, I see people who aren’t willing to put the effort in to job search effectively or bother learning how to get the skills needed for particular in-demand jobs. I suggest doing more research on the front lines.