In Sunday's News Tribune we detailed a nationwide problem that, according to a new study, is also affecting Missouri and Jefferson City.
Employers are struggling to find skilled employees in the fields of technology and health care.
If you're a new college graduate in those fields, congratulations. You likely won't have much trouble finding a job, if you haven't already.
The study, done by the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC), found that 52.3 percent of job ads on the job board provided by the state's Department of Workforce Development (DWD) - jobs.mo.gov - in 2016 were for jobs in health care, business and sales, and science and technology fields, but only 23 percent of job seekers were looking for jobs in those fields.
Representatives from local hospitals said it's sometimes hard to recruit employees to Jefferson City. Likewise, the state has had challenges in recruiting for the many programming and other tech positions it has in Jefferson City.
What can be done to help fill these jobs and stimulate the local economy?
Randy Allen, president of the local Chamber of Commerce, pointed out there are plenty of programs available through state and local governments to train workers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.
Colleges nationwide have also begun creating incentive programs for students to enter jobs in STEM fields. In addition, we have a nursing program right in our back yard at Lincoln University.
Some, such as IBM President/CEO Ginni Rometty, have said Congress should update the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act that governs federal support for vocational education.
She also said leaders should focus more on connecting high-school graduates and others without four-year degrees to jobs by modernizing federal college work-study programs, which dispense nearly $1 billion to help students work to earn their college tuition.
We would also add that local partnerships between private/public agencies and schools could result in programs that benefit everyone.
The fast-changing nature of technology requires new ideas for learning. We have to be open to revolutionary ideas in education that might not involve the traditional four-year degrees, books, classrooms or even teachers.