Workforce needs better training, support policies to meet demand

Could Jill Watson be the typical graduate assistant of the future? Watson was Georgia Tech’s first AI teaching assistant that fooled some in the computer science class into thinking the assistant they were dealing with in an online forum was human. New methods of teaching and training are being explored to handle the growing needs of filling middle-skilled jobs, according to several recently released reports. A new report from the Pew Research Center focuses on whether workers will be able to compete with artificial intelligence tools and whether capitalism itself will survive. Two other reports released last month by the National Skills Coalition stress workforce training through work-based learning policy and surveys all the states for the effectiveness of such programs, and provides policy recommendations by revisiting a November report.

The new Pew report, The Future of Jobs and Jobs Training, begins by asserting that “massive numbers of jobs are at risk” as smart, autonomous systems continue to infiltrate the workplace. Solutions evolving from conversations surrounding the topic include changes in educational learning environments to help people stay employable in the future, the report says. Pew and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center conducted a large-scale canvassing of technologies, scholars, strategic thinkers and education leaders last summer, asking them about the future of workplace training.

Respondents were positive in their anticipation that programs will emerge to successfully train large numbers of workers in the skills they will need. But within the 30 percent who did not believe that will occur, a majority said they do not believe adaptation in teaching environments will be sufficient to teach new skills at the scale that is necessary. Of those expecting the education marketplace to adapt, many indicated they expect that employers will step up their training efforts, in addition to self-teaching efforts by jobholders through online opportunities. Creativity, collaboration, abstract thinking skills, complex communication and the ability to thrive in diverse environments will be job skills well worth cultivating as respondents believe these are the skills that will set humans apart from AI. Practical skills like working with data, algorithms, 3-D modeling and printers or augmented and virtual reality will also be useful for people, respondents said.

Among those who lacked confidence in future capabilities to adequately train the workforce, comments emphasized a belief that no platform currently exists that could successfully train large numbers of people.

The approximately 1,400 responses in the study could be grouped into five thematic observations about future job training efforts in the tech age:

1.     The training ecosystem will evolve, with a mix of innovation in all education formats.

2.     Learners must cultivate 21^st century skills, capabilities and attributes.

3.     New credentialing systems will arise as self-directed learning expands.

4.     Training and learning systems will not meet 21^st century needs by 2026.

5.     Jobs? What jobs? Technological forces will fundamentally change work and the economic landscape.

The report notes that many respondents indicated they believe campus-based higher education will continue to thrive as its experiences are not easily duplicated. Yet they also indicated that they expect to see more in the way of employer-based, job-specific training.

The National Skills Coalition recently explored how states are closing the skills gap through work-based learning policies. In its report, Work-Based Learning Policy, 50-State Scan, 35 states were found to have some sort of state policy that is trying to address the skills gap. The report notes that the danger in not addressing the issue is limited growth in the economy if the workforce cannot fill the available jobs. While 53 percent of current jobs are considered middle-skill level jobs, only 43 percent of U.S. workers are trained at the level, the report states.

Work-based learning programs like apprenticeship and career and technical education (CTE) with a worksite component have a long tradition of proven effectiveness, the report asserts, yet its scale in the U.S. is limited. NSC categorized state policies into five main categories: expansion initiatives, employer subsidies that may be either grants or tax credits, support for pre-apprenticeships or youth apprenticeships, other secondary student work-based learning policies, and policies supporting postsecondary classroom instruction for apprenticeships.

In a separate report looking at the federal level, NSC recommends that Congress should take additional steps to support businesses in their development or expansion of work-based learning strategies and to diversify the pipeline of workers able to fill these programs. In Getting to Five Million Apprentices, NSC outlines policy recommendations to help achieve that goal. The report builds off work NSC did in November that proposed workforce initiatives for the incoming administration. Among the plan’s goals was five million new apprentices over five years. To pursue that goal with Congress, the report details five policy recommendations:

1.     Create a national network of regional industry intermediaries to assist companies.

2.     Re-tool federal tax credits to businesses and provide additional subsidies to targeted employers.

3.     Update the concept of pre-apprenticeship through an employment-friendly “work-based learning support fund.”

4.     Assist in-school and out-of-school youth with connections to the workforce.

5.     Extend Pell grants to working apprentices whose coursework currently does not qualify for federal college aid.

Work-based learning, the report contends, has advantages for both businesses and workers, and the potential to improve competitiveness. Although Congress has taken steps to encourage such programs, the report urges more action on their part to support businesses in their development of such programs and to diversify the pipeline of workers able to fill the programs.