workforce

The Department of Labor announced over $175 million in new funding for community colleges to grow and enhance their manufacturing education and training programs through partnerships with local employers. Part of the $500 million Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) initiative, the grants are intended to promote skills development and employment opportunities in advanced manufacturing.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert announced a new public-private partnership that will establish the Salt Lake City region as a top ten center for technology jobs and businesses. To achieve this goal, the state plans to undertake a statewide planning process to identify and build on current successes and create greater collaboration in Science Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education.

The start of a new school year is already underway leading to the often dreaded task of choosing a major. For today's students, balancing a rewarding career with one that offers in-demand employment opportunities has become even more of a struggle. Results from a new survey suggest the engineering field might just fit the bill, however. A survey of more than 1,200 mechanical engineers offers insight into a profession where most hold an optimistic view of their work and their ability to impact lives and meet global challenges.

In comparison to most of its peer states, Colorado's workforce excels in educational attainment and entrepreneurship, according to the first Colorado Innovation Index. The index, published by the Colorado Innovation Network, evaluates Colorado's economy in relation to seven benchmark states, including Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Texas and Utah. Only Massachusetts had a higher percentage of Bachelor's degree holders in its workforce, and only Massachusetts and New York had a higher percentage of graduate degree holders.

Long-term U.S competitiveness is threatened due to a lack of progress in U.S. child development areas that are the best indicators of human capital development, according to a new report from the Center for American Progress — The Competition that Really Matters. The authors found that U.S. gains in education, health, family income and childhood poverty and pro-family workplace policies have remained stagnate while our competitors including China and India have increased significantly since 1980. If U.S.

While job growth in the South is relatively strong (20 percent growth) compared to the nation (17 percent), many southern states are trapped in an economic cycle known as a low-wage/low-skill equilibrium, according to A Decade Behind: Breaking Out of the Low-Skill Trap in the Southern Economy — a new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and Workforce.

A bill introduced less than three months ago to spur economic activity through high-impact university-industry R&D projects and provide tools for tech-based startup companies was passed with overwhelming support in the legislature. In addition to the matching fund, the bill includes funding to provide paid internships to startup technology companies and establishes an entrepreneur and startup venture capital mentoring program. Measures to address the state's skills gap and promote manufacturing competitiveness also are included.

In a fast-paced global economy, the workforce has to be nimble and easily adaptable to changing needs. The new workforce is being shaped by improvements in technology, cuts to higher education, and a new generation of workers who think differently about the labor market. Two emerging trends reshaping the high-tech workforce are the rise of highly-skilled independent contractors or "supertemps," and industry-sponsored boot-camp style training to quickly fill the specialized needs of employers.

Two bold proposals seeking to make big changes to community colleges in Massachusetts and New Jersey research universities recently were approved by lawmakers. In Massachusetts, more funding for the state's 15 community colleges is tied to increased oversight, performance measures and integration of workforce development initiatives. Meanwhile, New Jersey lawmakers passed a bill merging a medical and dentistry school with Rutgers University in hopes of strengthening partnerships for research projects and drawing more federal funding.

U.S. immigration policies are irrational and undirected according to a new report from the Partnership for a New American Economy and Partnership for New York City — Not Coming To America: Why the U.S. is Falling Behind in the Global Race for Talent. In sharp contrast, to attract immigrants that drive economic growth and increase international competitiveness, foreign countries have adopted targeted and strategic policies that include: