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Education and Training for Tomorrows Jobs

National Governors Association

Chairs Initiative 2013-2014

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Preparing Americas 21st century workorce to keep pace and stay competitive is an issue that not

only calls or national attention, it also demands gubernatorial leadership. Ensuring our states and

citizens uture economic security will require signicant improvements to our education system

and workorce training programs. It also will require closer relationships among our high schools,

colleges, workorce training providers and employers.Thats why Ive chosen to ocus my 2013-

2014 National Governors Association Chairs Initiative onAmerica Works: Education and Training for

Tomorrows Jobs.

Governors are uniquely positioned to oster stronger connections between education and

the workorce because within states, they are the sole individual who has responsibility or

both public education and economic development. States and the businesses that drive state

economies can help secure their own economic uture by aligning education institutions andworkorce training eforts with the projected demands o tomorrows labor market.

Beyond the benets to the businesses that make up the states economies, these changes will

improve access to economic opportunities or the citizens o each state. We know it will be the

workers with education and training in elds such as

science, technology, engineering and mathematics

(STEM) and other skilled trades who will be best

prepared to capture the high-wage jobs o the next

decade, including those in health care, management,

scientic and technical consulting, business services and

advanced manuacturing. Those are the jobs that willsupport amilies and help states economies thrive.

Together, we can work to prepare our workorce or the 21st

century, securing the economic uture o all Americans.

Sincerely,

National Governors Association Chair, 2013-2014

A Letter from the Chair

2 0 1 3 - 2 0 1 4

N G A C h a i r s I n i t i a t i v e

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The ChallengesNearly 50 years ago, more than three o every ourjobs only required a high school diploma or less,and most paid a good wage. Today, that numberhas dropped to 40 percent or jobs available to highschool graduates and dropoutsand ewer than athird o those jobs pay more than $25,000. Failing toprovide all students with opportunities to successullynavigate postsecondary education will cap ar toomany students potential and access to the middleclass.

Nationally, just more than three-quarters o publichigh school students make it to graduation, andonly about hal o the students who continue theireducation fnish a degree or workorce certifcateprogram. Additionally, roughly two-thirds o the 2020U.S. workorce is already o working age today, andone in our o those adults lacks the basic literacy andnumeracy skills to qualiy or most jobs.

Thus, the challenge is clear: get more students to meet higher standards by the end o high school and then create the opportunitiesor those students, as well as returning adults, to successully complete a degree or career-training program that prepares them or a

well-paying job and career. Meeting that challenge will require a better understanding o states market or educated workers as well asimproving the quality o the education and workorce training institutions that can prepare the uture workorce. It also will requireinnovative partnerships between business, education and government to increase the number o degrees awarded and credentialsattained to better match the supply o new workers with the uture demands o business. Gathering and analyzing more and better datawill be critical in determining where changes need to be implemented and prioritizing which steps are necessary to accomplish thatobjective.

The role o education must be more than merely to prepare individuals or a job. This nation must understand that a postsecondarydegree or relevant workorce certifcate is the new minimum and without it, our young people will not be able to access the middleclass, the American dream and the opportunities and responsibilities o citizenship and a uller lie.

The OpportunityTo provide the profle and assistance to states to address the issues described above,America Works: Education and Training for TomorrowsJobs, will ocus on improving the capacity and eectiveness o states education and workorce training systems and aligning those

systems with the needs o the state economies. The initiative will ocus on:

Engaging education, business and government leaders in a dialogue about what governors can do to more closely align K-12,universities, community and technical colleges and workorce training providers with uture labor demands. It will highlightleading policies, practices and partnerships or meeting emerging knowledge and skill needs in the states.

Supporting governors and their sta to use data and inormation that will help them: identiy their states uture labor demands,prioritize changes in the education and workorce training systems to meet those demands and take action to achieve desiredresults. This initiative will help governors use data to establish state-specifc industry priorities that ocus state policy andresources on enhancing the eectiveness and alignment o the states human capital pipeline.

This Initiative Will Elevate the importance o postsecondary educationa degree or workorce certifcateas the new minimum in order to gain

access to opportunities.

Launch at a national event in Washington, D.C., which provides a venue or industry leaders and policy organizations to learnmore about the initiatives priorities and objectives and identiy ways to coordinate their activities in states and align withcommon interests o governors.

Provide each governor with state-specifc return on investment data or increasing degree attainment.

Host two or three state-based, regional governors roundtables with education, business and industry leaders in key growthfelds ocusing on identiying priorities or state action.

Produce a governors guide and case studies on leading state eorts to integrate and use education and workorce data to betteralign higher education and workorce training with state specifc labor needs.

Kick o an intensive eort with six to eight states to develop and implement a policy agenda to build and strengthen educationand workorce training programs, promote stronger collaboration and inormation sharing between education and workorce/economic development agencies and organizations and expand the states public and private sector education and trainingcapacity to meet its uture workorce needs.

Defining the Problem: Increasing Need for More Education

in Current Economy

Source: Current Population Survey, multiple years.

79%

41%

11%

10%

32%

27%

High School or Less

BA and above

Some College and AA

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