Editorial: Workforce Needs
This week, Massachusetts goes through its annual rite of late summer in welcoming new and returning college students from around the United States - and the world - onto its many campuses for the start of another school year. The lofty stature of the Bay State's institutions of higher learning is both a point of pride and a key reason our economy is performing better than the nation's as a whole.
Of course, the state economy can be better. Recovery from the recession of 2007 to 2009 continues to be weak, especially in the Worcester area, where unemployment hovers around 8 percent, lagging the statewide rate of 7.6 percent.
True, some businesses are not in a position to add to their payrolls until they see more demand for their products or services. But Eric Rosengren, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, cited another drag on employment in Worcester and other mid-sized cities in New England: Employers can’t find enough “middle skill” workers to fill open positions. In a recent appearance in Worcester, he called on community colleges to help fill that gap.
New View Of Community Colleges
Community colleges are often overlooked. They’re viewed in some circles as temporary stops for recent high school graduates who either need time to figure out what they want to do with their lives or put the work in to qualify for admission to four-year schools.
But they should be more than that, as schools such as Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) in Worcester and Mount Wachusett Community College (MWCC) in Gardner are proving. Those schools have been successful in their efforts to sell training to companies and enlist their faculties to develop new curricula based on the needs of industry. These efforts, conducted through dedicated workforce development offices, don’t depend on state funding, according to Jeremiah Riordan, assistant vice president of lifelong learning and workforce development at MWCC. If the commonwealth is serious about investing in its workforce for today and tomorrow, it should assist its community colleges by helping subsidize these workforce development offices.
Rosengren pointed to North Carolina as an example of a state where community colleges, aided by a close alignment with state government, help the workforce by offering to customize training for employees whom companies plan to hire. North Carolina would be a good model to follow since its employment base includes a mix of industries similar to that of Massachusetts. It also promotes itself as a business-friendly state; in a 2010 CNBC survey, North Carolina ranked 15th in “business friendliness” while Massachusetts ranked 39th.
The value of community colleges is not lost on Washington either. Last year, President Obama called them the “unsung heroes” of the American education system. And earlier this year, a White House summit on community colleges proposed 13 recommendations to strengthen ties between industry and community colleges. Among them: Make sure that the skills being taught at the schools are relevant, and make any training flexible enough to accommodate students’ work schedules so they can more easily apply what they learn to their work.
Both Riordan of MWCC and QCC President Gail Carberry said their schools keep in touch regularly with employers in the region as a way to continually modify curricula and programs to meet the industry needs they perceive. They cited programs in automobile repair, heating and ventilation, nursing and weatherization as examples. That presents a mix of present and future needs that can demonstrate the potential of industry-community college partnerships. If the commonwealth is serious about the ongoing quality of life in the Bay State, boosting the skills of its workforce through its community colleges represents a good investment of tax dollars. And the growth in community college enrollment in Massachusetts – especially at QCC and MWCC – offers solid reason that any additional state money will yield a strong return on that investment.
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