Using Education Innovations to Counter a Workforce Crisis

^{In this Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, file photo, Luis Mendez, 23, left, a student at Miami Dade College, left, and Maurice Mike, 23, a student at Florida International University, wait in line at a job fair held by the Miami Marlins, at Marlins Park in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)}

RCEd Commentary

For more than a decade, we have been warned of a perilous future for American jobs: well paying U.S. jobs are headed overseas and well qualified workers are being granted visas to come to the U.S. for employment. During this same time, the future of the American workforce has been top of mind in U.S. education policy -- from a focus on 21st Century skills to a most recent push toward college and career readiness for all students under the banner of Common Core.

Rightfully so. In The Global Workforce Crisis report published earlier this year, The Boston Consulting Group has detailed some critical trends. Germany will see its workforce shortage quadruple in a decade as its labor force continues to shrink. Over the same time, Brazil will see its expected labor shortage increase fivefold as industry needs continue to grow. China is expected to move from a surplus of 55.2 million workers today to a shortage of 24.5 million in just 15 years as workforce demands there also continue to increase.

And with all the recent talk of job growth and a dropping unemployment rate, the U.S. will have a surplus of nearly 20 million skilled workers by 2020 as population rates continue to increase, enough to fill the current gaps in science, technology, engineering, and math. Even as other economies will see their workforce shortages explode by 2030, the U.S. is expected to continue its surplus -- at a minimum of 7.4 million workers -- for the next 15 years.

A growing labor supply and a surplus of qualified workers requires the U.S. and its educational institutions to carefully consider the future and what it means for today’s students -- tomorrow’s workers. Under a banner of college and career readiness, we have set a national goal to have the highest percentage of college graduates based on population among all nations by the year 2020, a goal that was set by President Barack Obama well before Common Core standards were adopted by the vast majority of states. Similarly, we have promised that high school diplomas will ensure future employers access to meaningful skills and knowledge. But we must now ask how these two goals match up with the economic realities and forecasts we face.

In The Global Workforce Crisis, BCG's researchers offer several recommendations for how nations such as ours can mitigate an expected labor surplus. Two of these ideas have direct implications not only for our economy but also for our educational systems.

We must focus on vocational training and job qualification programs. While it is emotionally satisfying to have the highest percentage of college graduates in the world, it does little good to our economy if they are majoring in subjects that don’t meet the future demands of our economy. We must embrace the fact that postsecondary is more than just a four-year degree. It also includes our two-year colleges and career preparation programs. And many can benefit from programs that include training for specific skills that are in demand -- and for skills that we know we will be in short supply. Such focus, though, requires a transformation in the way the American public views career education and even two-year colleges.

Second, we need to focus on our educational programs themselves, helping equip today’s students with the skills they will need to succeed tomorrow. We must start doing things differently in our classrooms, embracing all types of approaches in further pursuit of 21st Century skills -- from online learning driven by individual student interests to expanded access to massive open online courses. We can no longer expect our K-12 systems to educate kids in the same ways they did in the 1850s -- or even the 1950s -- and still be capable of meeting the nation's needs in 2050. We must adjust, adapt, and grow to maximize the resources available to us and to ensure that a public education is relevant and engaging for all learners.

This imperative extends to postsecondary education as well. For years, we have listened to thought leaders emphasize the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education. We have seen entire universities created to focus on STEM studies, and it is common sense that careers in the STEM fields will drive our future economic growth.

Yet, one recent study from the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that nearly 75 percent of all U.S. graduates with bachelor’s degrees in STEM disciplines do not end up working in STEM fields. While this data excludes STEM-related fields like healthcare and education, it still should give us pause. We just aren’t doing a strong enough job connecting the importance of STEM education with the workforce opportunities it provides later on.

The Global Workforce Crisis serves as a clarion call for how our educational systems can effectively address the workforce realities of the near future. We can continue to do things as we always have, recognizing that many learners will secure employment in fields that are wholly unrelated to their academic pursuits. We can continue to prepare a workforce for the jobs of yesterday, void of the skills needed for the careers of tomorrow. And we can continue to devalue the enormous potential of career training and its role in building a stronger nation and a stronger economy.

Or we can act to find the intersections of a 21st Century education and 21st Century careers. We can recast American education so it does not model past efforts but instead reflects the needs and opportunities of tomorrow. And we can help today’s learners understand what skills and knowledge and courses they need to succeed in the future. In doing so, we can work with students so they are economic success stories in 2030, rather than part of a global workforce crisis.