Workforce Skills and the Global Market: Understanding Emerging Employer Skills Needs in Our RapidlyC

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Workforce Skills and the Global
MarketUnderstanding Emerging Employer Skills
Needs in Our Rapidly-Changing, Innovation-Driven
Economy

• Kathy Krepcio, Executive Director
• John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development
• June 23, 2008 Presentation at the Interagency
  Committee on Disability Research

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Heldrich Center Ready for the Job Research

• Interviews and focus groups with over 70
  employers, economic forecasters and other
  stakeholders
• Fundamental Assumptions
• A skilled workforce is essential to national,
  state and local economic growth
• In order to fully participate in todays economy
  and labor market, workers must possess the skills
  employers need.
• Today, employers state that a significant
  challenge to their ability to grow, compete and
  prosper is the shortfall of skilled workers or a
  skills gap
• Understanding the skills employers need and
  developing workers with those skills - plays an
  ever more critical role for the US economy

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Research Findings

• US workplaces are undergoing rapid and continuous
  changes
• Employers today are competing in an increasingly
  global, innovation-driven economy and must adapt
  to major workplace trends
• Six (6) emerging workplace trends have important
  implications for the skills workers need to
  compete in todays marketplace.

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Broad Workplace Trend
Implications for Workers
Job responsibilities at all levels are changing
to improve the flow of knowledge throughout
organizations
TREND 1. The Increasing Competitive Advantage of
Firms that Harness Knowledge and Innovation
Effectively
Major firms are creating new types of knowledge
jobs including chief knowledge officers and
innovation managers
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The pressure to harness knowledge and innovations
has increased the importance of these types of
skills

• Interdisciplinary knowledge
• Information management and communication
• Adaptability

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Broad Workplace Trend
Implications for Workers
Transfer of more responsibility to front line
workers/high performance work systems
TREND 2. Decentralization of business operations
and management
Development of global project networks
More non-traditional worker-employer
relationships
Development of global project networks
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The decentralization of business operations has
increased the need for workers with these skills

• Technology skills
• Business skills
• Information management and communication/relations
  hip building
• Adaptability

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Broad Workplace Trend
Implications for Workers
TREND 3. The continued and expanded reliance on
technology in the workplace
Creating shifts in job responsibilities and
skills needed to perform jobs
Increase in the level of skills and education
necessary to succeed on the job
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The expanded reliance on technology has increased
the need for workers who possess these key skills

• Technology skills, especially Math, Science and
  Engineering
• Adaptability

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Broad Workplace Trend
Implications for Workers
More complexity involved in handling
interpersonal relationships and interactions
TREND 4. Increasing diversity in the workplace
Firms are creating new positions to address
diversity issues such as chief diversity officer
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Greater workplace diversity has increased the
need for workers who possess these key skills

• Communication/Relationship Building
• Adaptability

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Broad Workplace Trend
Implications for Workers
Job responsibilities at all levels are changing
to improve the prevention of, and response to, a
variety of threats
TREND 5. An expanded focus on privacy, security
and ethics
Firms are creating new positions to address
security and ethics issues including ethics
officers and security managers
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The expanded reliance on technology has increased
the need for workers who possess these key skills

• Technology skills, especially Math, Science and
  Engineering
• Adaptability

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Broad Workplace Trend
Implications for Workers
TREND 6. Business process changes in response to
shifts in regulatory environments and changing
patterns of regulation
Long and short term increases in the knowledge
and skill requirements for jobs at all levels
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Changing regulatory environments has increased
the need for workers who possess these key skills

• Information management and communications/relation
  ship building
• Business Skills
• Adaptability

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Conclusion High Priority Emerging Skills in
Todays Global Environment

• Adaptability Skills
• Information Management and Communication/Relations
  hip Building Skills
• Interdisciplinary Skills
• Business Skills
• Science, Math, Engineering and Technology (STEM)
  skills

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Recommendations for Future Research and Knowledge
Transfer

• Evaluation of existing workforce prep programs
  to understand what works and what does not work
  for PwD especially emerging sector strategies
  and longer term tracking of labor market
  attachment using UI wage data
• Evaluation designs should be informative to
  provide administrators, policy makers and the
  public with real time information without
  compromising research integrity and rigor and
  that results in significantly improved program
  practice, policy and operations

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Recommendations for Future Research and Knowledge
Transfer

• Ongoing research on ever changing employer skill
  needs
• Need routine, timely and more effective mechanism
  to quickly translate that information to
  educators, parents, counselors and job seekers so
  supply side programs can reflect real time
  demands