Some 8.4 million Americans are unemployed, while employers are trying to fill 10.9 million jobs.
Employers are desperate, but “a fair number of unemployed or job seekers don’t feel that same sense of urgency,? Nick Bunker, research chief at the Indeed Hiring Lab, told Reuters. Pay is rising, but apparently not enough to draw low-skilled, low-wage workers into the workforce.
Americans need job skills and career mobility, writes Paymon Rouhanifard, CEO of Propel America, in U.S. News. He proposes a jobs-first higher education system for the many people for whom the bachelor’s-or-bust model has been a high-risk, high-debt road. They need a bridge from high school to prosperity, he writes.
Young adults complete an industry-recognized credential that generates college credit while receiving career training and support that equips them with the professional skills to obtain their job, persist in it, and pursue a plan for ongoing education and career advancement.
In six months and with just a Pell Grant, a young adult anywhere in the country could attain a living-wage job – all while earning college credits that can be stacked into degrees over time.
In Ohio, Lorain County Community College has launched a Fast-Track program that provides a career coach, connections to employers and the chance to earn short-term vocational certificates, he writes. It’s tuition free. Those who want to move up can use “stack” additional credentials or degrees on the first credential.
National Louis University, a Chicago-based nonprofit, is developing credential-through-bachelor’s degree pathways that offer “a viable career ladder,” writes Rouhaniford, whose Propel America, also a nonprofit, is partnering with the university.
It’s important to provide Pell funding for students pursuing vocational credentials, not just those seeking an academic degree, writes Rouhaniford.
In addition, higher education leaders must develop academic pathways aligned to employers’ needs, he writes. “Employers can then get to the core work of reevaluating the competencies needed for their most in-demand, upwardly mobile jobs, shifting toward a skills-based hiring model and investing in creative on-ramps into jobs that include internships, apprenticeships and other project-based capstone activities.”
I’m very worried about the teens who gave up on remote classes to take low-skilled jobs. How will they learn the academic and job skills they’ll need to move up?
People have been talking about expanding apprenticeships for a long, long time. Will it finally happen? The Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeships is working on it.