Time For a Jolt

The United States needs a “jolt” to get the economy back on track.

“We have a catch-22 situation,” said Anthony Carnevale, director and research professor, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce. “We don’t have workers to attract high-skill, high-wage industries, and we don’t have high-skill, high-wage industries giving workers incentive to obtain the skills they need. We’re stuck, and the only way we can fix this is to have some sort of a jolt.”

ACT leaders and annual meeting panelists discussed what the “jolt” might entail and how ACT could help. They responded to remarks Carnevale made in a video interview.

“We need to unlock the collective power between the education and the employer sectors,” said Parminder Jassal, executive director, ACT Foundation. “These sectors have been operating in isolation. We need to link them, so we can provide effective information that helps people plan their future.”

Steve Kappler, ACT assistant vice president, college and career readiness, said ACT’s commitment to measuring multiple dimensions of readiness—achievements, behaviors, and goals as part of the organization’s new kindergarten-through-career continuum can help people align their interests with intended college majors or career aspirations. “The insights behind these dimensions of readiness will help people create their own individual success paths,” he said.

Higher education needs to realign its programs and delivery systems to meet the needs of today’s college student, who is increasingly an adult with a job and a family. Many of the nation’s colleges are set up for sequential learning, but as Kappler pointed out, “Students today are in and out of postsecondary education and the workforce, and are taking many years to earn a degree.”

Instead of the old model of an individual graduating from high school, going to college, graduating, and then entering the job market, postsecondary institutions have to change how they serve today’s students.

Melissa Murer Corrigan, interim head, ACT workforce development, said ACT can help prepare individuals for constant career shifts with certification programs. “The more linkages we can provide between education and what people are going to do in the future, the more quickly we can get people into jobs.”

Working together with other organizations needs to be part of the jolt, she said. For example, ACT is partnering with the Manufacturing Institute (MI) to help individuals gain skills certifications so they can successfully compete in the twenty-first century economy. In less than a year, MI and its affiliates issued nearly 85,000 certifications—including the ACT National Career Readiness Certificate—to students and workers.

“When we talk about low-skill workers and high-skill jobs, we must also talk about collaborations to get people on the right paths.”

Melissa Murer Corrigan

Carnevale said technology is automating tasks that are repetitive, meaning that workers must now compete for positions with nonrepetitive tasks that require education or training beyond high school. The supply of postsecondary talent is increasing by about one percent a year, and the demand for talent is increasing about three percent a year.

“Our nation is in chaos,” said Jassal. “There are voids in our economy, education system, higher education, and workplace. As a public trust, ACT can fill these voids with strong and unified leadership, creative solutions, and a sense of urgency.”