Myths and Action: What Economic Developers Must Know About Workforce Development and Community Colleges

by Mary Crabbe Gershwin, Ph.D.

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In 2005, the educational attainment of the American workforce is stagnant. College participation trends in the United States, when compared with trends in the global labor force, reveal the quiet emergence of a second-class workforce that may threaten our productivity, our economic vitality, our quality of life and our international competitiveness.

Trends in Educational Attainment of U.S. Population Relative to the Most Educated Countries. Click for large image.

Yet, compounding this urgency are persistent myths – about the quality of our current workforce, the demand for skilled workers, the imperative for lifelong learning, and the public benefit accrued from investments in a skilled workforce. These myths have led many elected officials and community leaders to develop a myopic focus on K-12 education, viewing investments in community colleges and workforce development for adults as a nice thing to do but certainly not an economic imperative.

Perhaps more than any other community of leaders, economic developers cannot afford to be consoled by these myths or to focus exclusively on K-12 education reform. Leaders in economic development need clear facts about the trends and challenges in workforce development in the communities they serve. They need strategies that support adult preparation as a tool that produces results, and they need to be armed with information to act, including reliable information about the capacity and challenges of key institutions such as community colleges.

Workforce development myths and facts

Myth: The educational attainment of the American workforce is steadily on the rise.
Fact: Educational attainment is stagnant at best, and may decline.

The U.S. no longer leads the world in the percentage of its population with college degrees. For the population aged 25 to 34 the U.S. currently ranks fifth in the percentage of the younger population (aged 25 to 34) with college degrees.

If current trends are not addressed, the American workforce will be less educated in 2020 than it is today. According to Patrick Kelly, Vice President of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, by 2020 an additional seven million 25- to 64-year-olds will have joined the workforce who have less than a high school education.

Implication for economic development: The U.S. workforce is losing its edge in the international marketplace for skills.

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