Who Can Fix the "Middle Skills" Gap?

Nearly half of new job openings from 2010 through 2020 will be middle-skills positions in fields such as computer technology, nursing, and high-skill manufacturing. They require postsecondary technical education and training, and they're increasingly hard to fill. As federal funding for job training declines, Kochan, Finegold, and Osterman urge companies to take the lead in closing the middle-skills gap. Getting there, they argue, will require local business leaders to work with one another, educational institutions, and in some cases, unions. Available models include apprenticeship programs, such as those spearheaded by the Center for Energy Workforce Development; partnerships like those between Kaiser Permanente and its employee unions; sector-based regional initiatives, such as Boston-based SkillWorks; and collaborations with higher-education consortia that embrace strong ties to industry. Effective collaborative training programs involve employers in designing and funding the initiatives and in finding jobs for graduates. They integrate classroom education with opportunities to apply new skills in actual or simulated work settings. And they start graduates down a clear career path. These best practices, with leadership from the private sector, should be the cornerstones of a national job-training strategy.

• Employee training
• Career planning
• Hiring and recruitment