The cover feature for the February issue of T+D will look at the skills gap. Although opinions differed on the underlying causes, most of the people I interviewed for the piece believe a skills gap is upon us and it will get worse before it gets better. Among the people I spoke with was Ron Stiver, director of Indiana’s workforce development agency. Earlier this month Indiana announced an initiative to improve basic literacy skills of the Hoosier State’s workforce. Stiver said that a statewide survey indicated that “the current array of resources aimed at adult education and workplace literacy is woefully inadequate to meet this need.”
The state is currently accepting RFPs to develop programs to address this basic skills gap. Being a government-funded program, part of what Indiana wants to achieve is an improvement in the quality of life of its citizens. Under-trained, under-earning citizens are not good for the state. Indiana will put about $1 million into the pilot effort.
This week I ran across an article about a similar program for London.
Training that is being underwritten by the European Social Funding initiative will benefit Londoners. About £35 million will be allocated to meet the continuing skills gap challenges in London. At today’s conversion rate, that would be just over $62 million. And folks, that is just for the city of London.
It seems to me that we may have another kind of gap looming in our future. Europe and the United Kingdom appear more eager to put funding into worker skills enhancement than we are in the United States. If, as predicted, many positions in the future will go to China and India, will the U.S. and Europe/U.K. be left fighting over the scraps? If so, who will win that battle?
Rex, as long as the pace of change keeps picking up and we don't adopt new paradigms for learning, the skills gap can only grow. By fall, you should be able to write about the skills chasm or perhaps the grand skills canyon.
jay
Posted by: Jay Cross | February 04, 2006 at 09:53 PM