Today's Tennessean had an interesting story about how the Nashville and Middle Tennessee area could soon face worker shortages, especially in technical positions.
According to the story, "Middle Tennessee could face a shortage of about 2,300 workers a year, "as job creation outpaces the number of people available to work" over the next decade, a summary of the report said.
"If that happens, local business leaders said, then employers will have to rely on workers coming in from other parts of the country."
The University of Tennessee today released a study that says undergraduate and graduate students that major in either health or education were most likely to stay in-state and work after graduation.
Findings from the study indicate that 75 percent of bachelor's degree graduates in health and 74 percent of education degree students remained in Tennessee. This contrasted with an average retention rate of 64 percent across all majors.
Health professionals also earned among the highest post-graduation salaries.
Read the UT article on the findings. download the full report, and learn more about the project.
The US Chamber of Commerce blogger David Chavern had an interesting analysis of a New York Times story on strengthening graduation requirements for high school students.
Sara Rimer of the New York Times writes, "By contrast, many urban and low-income districts, which also serve many immigrants, are experimenting with ways to teach more than the basic skills so that their students can not only get to college, but earn college degrees. Some states have begun to strengthen their graduation requirements.
"'This is transformational change,' said Dan Challener, the president of the Public Education Foundation, a Chattanooga group that is working with the area public schools. 'It’s about the purpose of high school. It’s about reinventing what high schools do.'"
Read the New York Times article here.
Chavern, of the U.S. Chamber, quips, "It is about 20 years too late, but at least someone in the public education environment is acknowledging that there is a connection between public secondary education and our economy – and that there is a core obligation on the part of schools to give students the skills they need to obtain – and keep – meaningful employment."
While our region has enjoyed great successes and accomplishments in the past, we must work harder and smarter to remain competitive and grow as a community. Confronting our region’s workforce challenges will require all of us to work together and have serious conversations about how to prepare a workforce to meet the current & future demands of the Innovation Valley. We need to identify current workforce development efforts and systems, and work to create a strategy that will help maximize effectiveness and minimize overlaps.
Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale has challenged us to work together to decide what we have to do now. The Chamber has identified the various areas of workforce development that we need to tackle. On March 24 we will hold a summit, which is an opportunity to work together on these issues and develop a strategy for each one.
In order to organize the summit and form its agenda, we need your input and cooperation. If you did not attend the Jim Clinton event or were not able to complete the form at that time, please take the time to do so now.
Download a PDF of the comment card here.
Please return the completed form to Jennifer Evans.
The Public School Forum released three videos promoting academic excellence and raising standards for Tennessee's students. These will soon be television commercials.
Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt was one of the highlighted speakers.
Here we share one of the videos. The others will be forthcoming.
You can now view Jim Clinton's presentation ("Workforce + Education = Future") from last week in two ways on Knoxville Chamber's site:
Jim Clinton, a renowned authority on economic development in the Southern United States, challenged the Knoxville area and the Innovation Valley to dramatically transform its educational system, it workforce and its economy. The Innovation Valley should be a “Knowledge Economy” according to Clinton.
Read the story and see video highlights here
The Knoxville News Sentinel recently reported on the state's Board of Education proposal to add additional math, advanced science, personal finance and physical education requirements in order for students to earn a high school diploma. The board will vote later this month on the proposal.
The Chamber's president discussed the topic:
"There's a lot of Tennesseans who want the diploma and not the knowledge the diploma represents," Knoxville Chamber President and CEO Mike Edwards said. "If Tennesseans are going to have jobs and a standard of living, there has to be strong support from (them) on what the governor and the state board is doing.
"It will be too easy for people to think they don't need to master high school subjects, and that simply isn't the case. It's what's going to make or break an individual and a community."
Read more on the story here.
The Knoxville News Sentinel posted this interesting story this afternoon:
Governor Phil Bredesen spoke today to promote science and math education at the opening of the National Science Foundation Engineering Research and Innovation Conference.
"Our best and brightest students will only pursue that course of study, if we make sure they're excited about the opportunities there," Bredesen said.
For more, click here
Welcome to the Knoxville Chamber’s “Workforce blog”! Our ultimate goal is to develop and retain a world-class workforce that meets the needs of our region’s existing and future businesses. We are taking the following measures to achieve this goal:
- working with the K-12 system to increase the number of students leaving high school with the skills and tools they need to succeed in college or the workforce
- collaborating with K-12 administrators to reach system goals by streamlining current processes and managing by critical information
- partnering with post-secondary education through the Higher Education Forum to ensure the development and retention of our future workforce
- identifying ways to increase the skill level of those already in the workforce and to fill the gaps by recruiting quality workforce from outside of the region
- recognizing the need to engage the under-utilized workforce, which includes retirees, non-commissioned officers and disabled people, and determining ways to utilize their talents and expertise
While this is a broad attempt to define our activities, it gives you an idea of how far-reaching and vital it is to have a meaningful workforce strategy in place to sustain our economic prosperity. We welcome your thoughts and ideas, and would be happy to share our plans and efforts in more detail.
If you'd like to contact me directly please email jevans@knoxvillechamber.com or call (865) 246-2641.
Jennifer Evans, Director of Workforce Development and Education
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