PORTLAND, Maine — A new report funded in part by Kaplan University and two other degree-granting institutions in Maine makes the case that training a skilled workforce is “a key element in a region’s ability to keep and attract business and investment.”
The report is the second in a series published by the Maine Development Foundation and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce that focused on how to fill the need for an estimated 65,000 new workers in the state by 2020.
The first report focused on reaching those numbers, and the report issued Tuesday detailed plans to open up new training and education opportunities to Maine workers.
The report aggregates a mixture of reports, surveys and data about Maine’s workforce, describing in broad terms the direction researchers think the state’s workforce training and educational institutions should go.
That’s partly based on a survey from the national education nonprofit America’s Edge, which last year issued a report projecting the state would need 15,000 more highly skilled workers by 2018 to keep up with growth projections in certain industries.
“There will still be many jobs that require a high school diploma or less, but these will have higher performance requirements in the future,” the report stated.
Projections from the Maine Department of Labor’s Center for Workforce Research and Information predicts the same trend.
From 2012, the state office projects total employment to rise by about 2.3 percent to 669,774 people employed by 2022. Broken out by educational requirement, the CWRI projected jobs requiring master’s degrees and associate degrees would grow most rapidly, at about 8.6 percent for that period, compared to less than 1 percent for jobs requiring a high school diploma and about 2.8 percent for jobs not requiring a high school diploma.
While projected growth is fastest in fields requiring more education, an estimated 40 percent of the state’s jobs require a high school diploma and another 26 percent would not require a high school diploma. Jobs requiring bachelor’s degrees are projected to account for about 16 percent of all employment by that year.
But those top-level job counts don’t necessarily reflect how easy it might be to get a job at a certain requirement level. The report again cited CWRI data showing that Maine residents 25 or older with a bachelor’s degree had the lowest percentage of people unemployed, when grouped by education level.
People with a high school diploma had an unemployment rate of 6 percent that year, compared to 2 percent for holders of bachelor’s degree.
In making the case that greater education will lead to more economic growth for the state, the report sets out a group of goals:
— Greater collaboration between private business and educational institutions and an annual meeting regarding a unified workforce development strategy.
— Improve marketing careers in Maine and the state’s amenities, particularly for entrepreneurs “who have flexibility in deciding where to live and work.”
— Provide incentives for the estimated 200,000 adults who have some higher education but did not complete their degree, employers providing on-the-job training and students who need financing help.
— Align educational programs with perceived workforce needs and expand degree and certification programs at educational institutions and workplaces.
— Expand use of data-driven workforce projections and analyses, such as the Department of Labor database tracking average wages for graduates in specific programs.
Kaplan University led funding for the study that also received support from St. Joseph’s College and the University of New England. The Maine Community Foundation, Unum, Anthem, Bangor Savings Bank and Hannaford also sponsored the two-part workforce series.