National Skills Summit
Innovative Initiatives: Introduction
Part 2: Introduction
Innovative
Initiatives
In April 2000, Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman convened America's National Skills Summit to address the shortage of skilled workers. Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan gave the keynote address.
Chairman Greenspan laid out the pressures unique to a technology-based economy, and challenged employers, educators, and workers to keep pace. Intently absorbing this critical message, participants traded ideas and experiences, learning from each other about the innovative practices emerging to train new workers for today's dynamic economy.
The Summit was devoted to discussions of what has worked and what has not, and how problems can be overcome. This book is a product of those discussions, providing descriptions of innovative "best practices" from throughout the country. These examples are presented as inspiration and to plant seeds for innovative thinking.
There is no better time than right now to invest in America's untapped labor potential and to support workers as they compete in our digital-age economy. Technology is changing virtually every job in every sector of our economy. By 2004, half of all workers in the United States will be employed in industries that produce or extensively use high technology. Every aspect of our workforce will be affected.
One of the best ways to access more workers is to reach out to the more than 13 million Americans who are unemployed, are working part-time but want full-time work, or want a job but have given up looking. These pools of untapped labor are disproportionately African American, Hispanic, young, or may have disabilities and have been overlooked. Employing these workers is a non-inflationary way of meeting staffing needs.
As the stories that follow show, whole communities are working together to ensure that no American is left behind, powerfully demonstrating the potential of innovation and partnership. The lessons of the National Skills Summit will enable us to strengthen and expand our prosperity by connecting a ready workforce with today's employers.
The following innovative practice profiles are divided into eight different categories: High Tech and Sciences, Financial Services, Health and Child Care, Manufacturing, Construction and Transportation, Retail, Consortiums, and Targeted Populations. These groupings do not represent absolute divisions between industries and skill sets. Rather, they are designed to direct the reader towards the types of programs that most closely match the characteristics of their business or home community.
The innovative practices featured in "High Tech and Sciences" are notable for their innovation in preparing workers for information technology (IT) jobs, from computer networking to laboratory science.
The programs described in "Financial Services" have succeeded in training and placing workers as bank tellers, customer service representatives, accounting assistants, and in other white-collar professions
. Innovative initiatives profiled in "Health Care and Child Care" demonstrate effective methods of recruiting and training workers to deliver high-quality service in two of the most rapidly expanding segments of the service sector.
The "Manufacturing" section highlights organizations and partnerships that provide workers with the skills they need to enter well-paid factory work, from developing machine tools to building jet engines.
Thanks to the innovative practices presented in the "Construction and Transportation" section, thousands of workers have gained the skills they need to enter the building trades and transportation sector.
The innovative practices included in the "Retail" section model creative ways of drawing workers to sales occupations, providing them with the training necessary to advance and succeed in the field.
Unlike the previous chapters, "Consortiums" does not focus on a particular segment of the economy. Rather, this chapter presents a cross-section of industry-wide initiatives that have helped employers to ensure a constant pool of trained workers.
Finally, the innovative practices in "Targeted Populations" identify specific pools of potential workers, including youth, people with disabilities, welfare recipients, and the elderly. These organizations effectively "skill" underutilized workers to provide employers with the trained workers they require.
Together, this collection of innovative practices provides a variety of solutions to America's skills shortage. We encourage you to contact the organizations listed throughout this book, and we challenge you to adapt these solutions to your business or community.
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