“They’re a win-win for everybody involved,” says Larry Good, chairman of the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, an Ann Arbor, Michigan-based public-interest agency that works with government, business and higher education to help create jobs. An estimated 1,000 sector partnerships have been established across the country.
Typically convened by government agencies, industry trade groups or similar organizations, sector partnerships identify the skills that local employers require and work with community colleges, universities and other institutions to provide qualified workers. One way employed and jobless workers are acquiring skills for the 21st century workplace is through “sector partnerships”-regional alliances of government, business, academia and labor that focus on the workforce needs of local industries. 1 area of focus for attracting and retaining employees in 2011 (see “Special Report on Employee Engagement: Losing Lifeblood”). Its recent Trendsetter Barometer quarterly survey of 243 privately held businesses released in March found that training and development is the No. “Emerging from the recession, companies are now shifting their focus, with growth being top of mind these days and executives repositioning their companies for the long term,” says Ken Esch, a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Private Company Services practice. Another 31 percent said it is “somewhat” of a challenge only 16 reported that it is either a minor challenge or not a challenge.
Although the unemployment rate remains high, many jobless people don’t have the skills that are most in demand.Īccording to Across the Great Divide, a recent study by Corporate Voices for Working Families and Civic Enterprises, a Washington, D.C.-based not-for-profit, recruiting nonmanagerial employees with the skills, training and education their companies need is a major challenge for 53 percent of employers. Navigating a boat using a smartphone or tablet computer is a long way from sailing by star and compass, but it reflects the impact that advanced technologies are having on even the oldest of industries.įinding employees who have the training and experience to work with new technologies can prove difficult for companies such as Rumery’s Boat Yard. “Some of the functions he’s looking for are available as apps, but others aren’t commercially developed yet,” Tarpey says. Recently, Sean Tarpey, owner of Rumery’s Boat Yard, in Biddeford, Maine, was talking with a customer who wants to control all of his boat’s systems from his iPad and iPhone. Now they need workers with computer technology know-how, as well. For years, boat makers have required the skills of carpenters, mechanics and electricians.
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