“Everyone Wants a Good Job”
It’s up to America’s leaders to help ensure that there are enough good jobs for every worker.
Helping workers find good jobs was one of the key messages delivered by thought leaders at Workforce 2012: ACT’s National Workforce Development Conference.
A panel at ACT’s Workforce 2012 conference explains Right Skills Now, an accelerated training program to develop a skilled workforce. From left are Jennifer McNelly, president of The Manufacturing Institute; Darlene Miller, president and CEO of Permac Industries; Ryan Costella, director of strategic initiatives, Click Bond, Inc. in Nevada; and Brandon Jacobs, a participant in the Minnesota Right Skills Now program.
“Humans used to desire love, money, food, shelter, safety, peace, and freedom more than anything else,” stated Jim Clifton in his book, The Coming Jobs War.
“The last 30 years have changed us. Now people want to have a good job, and they want their children to have a good job.”
Martin Scaglione, ACT workforce president, tells participants about the Tomorrow’s Workforce Now program at the Workforce 2012 conference.
Clifton, chairman and CEO of Gallup, asserts that job creation and successful entrepreneurship are the world’s most pressing issues.
William Symonds, director of the Pathways to Prosperity Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, described the project, which was created to find solutions to help young adults achieve success. The landmark report—Pathways to Prosperity: Meeting the Challenge of Preparing Young Americans for the 21st Century—has spurred states to develop plans for Pathways initiatives.
William Symonds, director of the Pathways to Prosperity Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, explains how the project is helping young adults achieve success.
The report focuses on the entry of young people from high school age to their mid-20s into the workforce pipeline. “Getting the early part of the pipeline right is critically important,” said Symonds. “If we get young people well launched into the workforce, their careers are going to be a lot better than if they spend years struggling to figure out their place in the economy.”
The Honorable Sonny Perdue, governor of Georgia from 2003 to 2011 and inaugural chairman of the National Workforce Solutions Advisory Board, spoke about the results of educators and businesses working together to help close the skills gap.
ACT CEO Jon Whitmore (left) and the Honorable Sonny Perdue lead a discussion on educators and businesses working together.
Middle skills jobs–those requiring more than a high school diploma, but less than a four–year college degree–are what our country needs, and that’s where Georgia’s technical colleges filled in, he said. “They responded with innovative solutions that address businesses’ needs. Businesses provide feedback on workers’ skill deficiencies, and educators work to help correct those deficiencies.”
