Labor Force Crisis
Report produced by the National Commission on Adult Literacy describes our ill-prepared U.S. labor force.
U.S. Losing Ground in Education, Workforce Development, Report Finds (7/04/08)
Soaring dropout rates among high school students and diminished literacy skills among adults are contributing to an increasingly ill-prepared U.S. labor force and pose a serious threat to the nation's economic future, a new report produced by the National Commission on Adult Literacy ( www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org/ ) finds.
Based on a two-year study of trends, challenges, and opportunities in adult education and workforce development nationwide, the report, Reach Higher, America: Overcoming Crisis in the U.S. Workforce, finds that a growing percentage of U.S. workers is not prepared for careers in fields with growth potential such as health care, advanced manufacturing, and alternative energy.
Studies show that one in three young people in this country drop out of high school before earning their diploma, while nearly thirty million adults lack basic literacy skills. According to study director Cheryl King, a former deputy secretary and commissioner of adult education and workforce development in Kentucky, many of the estimated one hundred and fifty million workers in the United States age 16 and older require adult education and workforce development services, while the combined annual capacity of federal programs in these areas is only about three million people.
Funded in part by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the report recommends that workforce development services be expanded to serve twenty million workers a year by 2020 and calls for policies and partnerships at the state and federal levels to substantially increase the number of adults who earn high school diplomas or equivalent certifications; improve literacy skills among workers; and grow enrollment of adults in postsecondary education and job training activities. The report also singles out community colleges, which provide a third of the country's adult instructional services, as "vital educational forces" that can help strengthen the nation's labor force.
"We're at a critical crossroads in this country," said King. "The next steps we take on these issues will determine our economic standing, both at home and around the world, for decades to come."
"Report Urges New Approach to Adult Education, Workforce Development." Charles Stewart Mott Foundation Press Release 6/27/08.