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Leveraging Our Public Schools & Higher Education System
The projected worker shortage
Most of the new jobs over the next eight years will require education and training beyond high school. Most of the existing jobs will require that incumbents acquire significant increases in skills and knowledge to remain competitive and productive. In-migration to meet the worker shortage is constrained by the high cost of housing relative to the wage structure. The above projections do not take into account jobs resulting from state economic development initiatives, from federal military infrastructure and research projects, and the growth of the University as an economic engine. Jobs created from these initiatives are more likely to be living wage jobs but also more likely to require higher levels of education. Students emerging from high schools are not well prepared for technical education, particularly in the mathematics areas. Colleges have been only partially successful in moving students who do matriculate through to graduation. Expanding the number of qualified high school students or reaching older adults who are either underemployed or out of the workforce will require comprehensive services that consider not only the education needs but also social needs such as health insurance, lost income while attending training, lack of time because the worker is managing multiple jobs, drug use, and other non-academic matters. The state receives significant funding through the Federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) to provide training to dislocated workers and low-income unemployed individuals to prepare them for employment; however, the UH community colleges, the largest state investment in workforce training, are only marginally involved in the programs and services delivered with WIA resources. Challenges include:
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