Evidence is mounting that a reason for slow economic growth and high unemployment — not the main reason but a significant one — is the mismatch between the skills required for the jobs that American companies have to fill and the skills that American workers actually possess.
A recent survey of 87 small and midsize business CEOs conducted by the Robins School of Business at the University of Richmond and the Richmond Council of CEOs found the following: 70% staffing was a significant issue, particularly the finding, recruiting and training of operational and sales talent.
When asked how much their annual revenues might increase if their talent concerns were resolved, more than half of all CEOs (51.7%) indicated they would experience growth of 11% or more, with 17.2% of firms indicating potential revenue growth of more than 20% if they could solve their staffing issues.
The problem is concentrated in two main areas: sales and IT. “The CEOs I work with are very concerned with attracting talent in two areas,” says Scot McRoberts, executive director of the Virginia Council of CEOs. “Many small business CEOs are raising the bar for their sales teams. … In our local IT community, programmers and coders are just not there in sufficient skill and quantity.”
Let’s see…. Businesses want employees with different skill sets. Employees want skills that will get them hired. Virginia has a massive educational/job training establishment — colleges, universities, community colleges, job training programs — that spends billions of dollars a year. Yet, somehow, the system is not functioning properly. Old skills are obsolescing faster than ever as businesses strive to incorporate new technologies, and the education/training system can’t keep up.
Bacon’s bottom line: If those 87 CEOs are representative, thousands of jobs in Central Virginia alone are going begging. Instead of trying to create jobs by building baseball stadiums and sports arenas, perhaps our political and civic leaders should focus on the jobs-skills mismatch. On the other hand, maybe they shouldn’t. Given their track record, maybe they should just stay out of the way.
Regardless, we need a new system to equip Virginians with the skills they need to be employable and that businesses need to be competitive — a system that can keep up with fast-evolving technology. Will we get that system? Don’t count on it. The existing system is ossified in place by funding streams determined more by politics and institutional privilege than by market demand.
— JAB
