Forgotten Middle Worker, The

Training & Development, Sep 2009 by Pace, Ann

In a nation where one's education and career define his identity, it is easy to overinvest in the scientists, technologists, and engineers while overlooking the nurses, fire fighters, and mechanics.

According to the Forgotten MiddleSkill Jobs reports by The Workforce Alliance, middle-skill occupations, which require more than a high school education but less than a four-year degree, make up roughly half of all employment in the nation, compared with only one-third of high-skill occupations that require at least a four-year education. However, federal and state policymakers continue to neglect the middle-skill demographic.

Recently, policymakers concerned about America's global competitiveness have called for federal resources to be poured into the science, technology, engineering, and math sectors. In 2007, Congress gave $42 billion in federal support for research and education in the four fields. But these high-skilled industries need technicians and middle-skill workers to survive.

"What is striking is that we as a nation invest a great deal of resources into helping people access a four- year education, but we don't invest nearly as many resources in job training and middle-skill training programs," says Kermit Kaleba, senior policy analyst for The Workforce Alliance. "We don't match the resources we have on the federal or state level to job demands."

The Workforce Alliance launched its Skills2Compete Campaign to initiate a national discussion about the need for middle-skill jobs to ensure that the United States remains competitive. The campaign includes a national analysis of the middle-skill job demand, with studies ofWashington, Illinois, and Oregon - all of which have proven to be consistent with the national outlook.

The state reports revealed that the availability of middle-skill jobs outpaces the number of available workers. For example, 51 percent of all jobs in Illinois are middle-skill positions, but middleskill workers compose only 43 percent of the total workforce.

The middle-skill worker shortage is a result of recent educational, retirement, and immigration trends. The state campaigns have reported a growth in residents with a high-skill education and a decrease in those with middleor low-skill education. Middle- and low-skill workers are less likely to delay retirement than high-skill workers. Immigration swells the ranks of the lowand high-skill workforce sectors more than the middle-skill level.

Although middle-skill workers clearly make up the majority of the workforce, most of the states' education and training resources are reserved for the minority of the workforce - those younger than age 25.

"We as a society tend to think of education and training as the beginning of a career," Kaleba says. "We tend not to think about the skill development and learning needed by the current workforce. The reality is that there are a lot of people who need remedial training just to get into community college or be ready for on-the-job-training."

To address these middle-skill job concerns, the Skills2Compete Campaign supports a 21st Century "skill guarantee" that ever)' working person should have access to the equivalent of at least two years of education or training past high school.

While much of the success of this guarantee requires continued policy action on the federal and state levels, learning professionals can do their part to focus development efforts on the forgotten middle-skill workers in their organizations.

"Learning professionals tend to spend a lot of time focusing their energy on talent development geared toward higher level employees," Kaleba says. "Talent development needs to also be focused on workers who don't need the higher education. We need to develop career pam ways for middle-skill workers."

Ann Pace is an associate editor for T D; apace@astd.org.