21 st Century Workforce: Central Illinois

1. 21st Century Workforce: Central Illinois Richard W. Judy Workforce Associates, Inc. wf21@WorkforceAssociates.com 317-841-0133

2. Workforce 2020 was the starting point.

3. Central Illinois defined

4. Five axioms • Economic Development and Workforce Development are “joined at the hip.” • Every region needs a strong export sector. • Productivity is the key to growth & prosperity. • Plans for progress & change must come from the inside. • Follow-through and implementation are the keys to success.

5. An overview • A brief look at how Central Illinois has fared economically in recent years. • Ten basic findings of the study. • Three scenarios of the future. • Developing a 21st century workforce for Central Illinois: 10 key challenges.

6. Recent years (conc.) The area’s economic growth has lagged the state’s and nation’s

7. Finding #1 Central Illinois’ Three Historical Eras of Economic Development, Early Times Into the 21st Century (An impressionistic view)

8. Finding #2 Central Illinois needs new & stronger “export” clusters • Export or die. • Conducive conditions: • Excellent schools & culture of learning. • Physical infrastructure. • Fair and reasonable taxes. • Institutional & government coherence. • Regional cooperation. • First class public services. • A workforce adequate in quantity and high in quality

9. Finding #3 Powerful forces are creating a “knowledge economy” in America • Forces driving change: • Technology • Globalization • Changing industrial & occupational structure • Profound demographic change

10. Finding #3 (conc.) Competitive success in a “knowledge-based” economy • Depends on the ability to: • Produce new ideas, transform old ones, & convert them into intellectual property. • Incorporate & commercialize knowledge into products & services. • Respond quickly to rapidly changing opportunities, threats and other market conditions. • Quickly acquire new technologies, skills and knowledge. • True for communities, companies and individuals. • Central Illinois must become part of America’s new “knowledge-based” economy or fall behind.

11. Finding #4 Wanted: A strategy for economic development in C.I. • C.I. has lacked a coherent strategy & defined direction for its economic development in the early 21st century. • The Bioscience initiative and its outgrowths are steps in the right direction. • “We need more than one vine to climb.”

12. Finding #5 C.I.’s workforce growth has lagged seriously.

13. Finding #5 (conc.) Worker dearth: The quantitative workforce challenge

14. Finding #5 (conc.) How to cope with potential worker dearth? • Augment workforce growth • Spur growth of working age population. • Boost participation rates among all groups (including minorities, women, older residents and persons with disabilities). • Raise net inbound commuting. • Raise productivity • Increase investment & improve management. • Improve workforce quality. • Improve the match of workers with jobs.

15. Finding #6 Improving workforce quality: What it means. • In America’s 21st century “knowledge-based” economy, a successful person and a valuable worker will need: • Great powers of flexibility, creativity, and the capability to quickly acquire new skills & knowledge. • The motivation and ability to quickly learn what he/she does not yet know. • A sound basic education.

16. Finding #6 (conc.) A sound high-school education is an essential prerequisite • Without it, the prospect is for a life of dismal jobs and meager earnings. • Much room for improvement in C.I • In 2000-2001, nearly 700 C.I. high students dropped out of school. • Probably 500 of those will never receive a high school diploma or G.E.D. • Over the course of 10 years, that totals to 5,000 young people, • Even among those who do graduate, too many fail to demonstrate at least the minimum level of achievement according to state standardized tests.

17. Finding #7 Improving K-12 education is key to workforce development in C.I. • K-12 education is the most important formal workforce development most people ever experience. • Reduce dropout rates & raise graduation rates. • Improve learning outcomes; • Cognitive skills (The four “Rs” – reading, ‘riting, ‘rithmetic, and reasoning.) • Communication & computer skills. • “Soft skills” including teamwork, leadership & customer relations, & other “people” skills. • Ability to find and use information and to learn things that you don’t already know.

18. Finding #8 Learning must continue throughout life. • A dynamic and ever-changing “knowledge-based” economy means that one’s old skills & knowledge can become obsolete rapidly & frequently. • To maintain their employability & earning power, workers must retool, refresh & augment their skills & knowledge continually. • Incumbent workforce needs: • Motivation to retool, refresh, gain new skills, etc. • Opportunities to do so.

19. Finding #9 The match of workers with jobs • Already pretty good in C.I. • But it can be improved: • Career counseling. • Students. • Marginal workers • Incumbent workers. • Student & worker assessment. • Job profiling. • Comprehensive and up-to-date labor market information. A promising area for business-education collaboration!

20. Finding #10 C.I.’s workforce development system • Much improved in recent years. • But it is still too fragmented. • Multiple agencies & departments delivering services. • Each with its own funding streams and bureaucratic turf to defend • Impedes full implementation of the “one-stop” concept • It’s past time to bury all bureaucratic and other parochialisms.

21. Challenges Ten key challenges • Make C.I. a “Learning Community” and “brand” it as such. • Reduce high school dropout rates & raise graduation rates. • Improve educational outcomes of K-12 education. • Ensure proper mix of educational and training opportunities as well as of career guidance and counseling. • Make the C.I. worker training and retraining system the nation’s most responsive & efficient

22. A definition Conc. What is a learning community?Two essential components: • Motivation • High awareness among all members of the community of the value and critical importance of education and lifetime learning. • An avid enthusiasm and drive for learning & knowledge throughout the community. • Opportunity • Affordable and accessible opportunity for every person of every age to further their drive for learning and self improvement.

23. Challenges Conc. Ten key challenges (concluded) • Recruit & retain a skilled workforce pool for Central Illinois. • Lower barriers to workforce participation for all. • Make C.I. highly attractive place to live & work for the kind of talent needed. (PEEP) • Work together. Banish petty parochialisms. • Bring the Bioscience Strategy and other viable economic development strategies to fruition.

24. Thanks Very Much Richard W. Judy Workforce Associates, Inc. dickjudy@WorkforceAssociates.com 317-841-0133