New Walker Workforce Development Bill

Here in Wisconsin the "skills gap" is not just an abstract idea bandied about by pundits and policymakers, but it is having some profound impacts in the statehouse.  This week Gov. Scott Walker signed a $132 million bill centered on workforce development issues that include developing a new labor market data system, $15 million for workforce training grants, increased support for the state's technical college system, and high school apprenticeship programs.  Unlike many things in Wisconsin government, the bill passed with bipartisan support. 

This new push for workforce development was largely informed by two reports that came out last year. The first, the "Be Bold 2" report was sponsored by Competitive Wisconsin and prepared by the Manpower Group: Competitive Wisconsin Be Bold 2 Study.  The second, "The Road Ahead" which is more commonly known as the Sullivan report, was authored by Tim Sullivan, former CEO of Bucyrus International: The Road Ahead Report.

One of the main arguments made by the state government and these reports is that high unemployment is directly attributable to the "skills gap," or the lack of skilled workers available for businesses to hire to do their work.  Some have taken issue with this causative link, such as economist Mark Levine at UW-Milwaukee, whose recent report on the skills gap is sub-titled "Separating Fact from Fiction": UW-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development

And you can see in recent news reports that the back and forth about the skills gap, its existence (or not) and what it should be telling policymakers (if anything) is becoming a hot news item: "Walker signs bill to close 'skills gap'"

For the purposes of this study, I'm not interested in discerning whether or not a skills gap exists, or whether or not it is the reason why the state (and nation) has a persistently high unemployment rate.  I'm not an economist and can't pretend to know my way around labor statistics or theory.  Similarly, I'm not a business owner and don't know the ins and outs of the marketplace.  But what I can, and am doing is talking to people to find out what is going on in the businesses, colleges, and universities across the state.  Ideally, I can straddle a line between what the statistics say and what people in the field are saying, to have something constructive to say about workforce development policy.

Welcome to the WI Skills Gap Study blog!  Stay tuned to this blog for developments on this study, as well as ruminations on skills gap/workforce related issues, which seem to be in the news on a daily basis these days.

But first, some background on the study:

This study is motivated by the widespread idea in the media and policymaking circles that high unemployment is largely due to the gap between workers’ skills and employers’ needs.  The common view is that states such as Wisconsin face a shortage in the number of capable workers who can fill vacancies in certain sectors of the economy, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related fields.  Various reasons are provided for the existence of the gap including an aging workforce, outmoded or ineffective educational programs, a lack of employer training programs, ineffective hiring policies, and so on. Given that the idea of a skills gap is informing public policy at the state and national levels, with increased emphasis on technical colleges, differential tuition for fields perceived as “job-ready,” and critiques of the value of a liberal arts education, it is important to develop a rigorous understanding of precisely what the nature of this skills gap is and if it exists at all.

While a significant amount of research exists using large data-sets to explore these and related issues, outside of newspaper and magazine articles, little empirical work exists that is based on the actual experiences and perspectives of business owners, educators, and workers.  Indeed, some argue that researchers and policymakers should get out and talk directly with employers and workers, and in this study I adopt that position while also drawing on the research literature and other documentary evidence to answer the research questions. 

This study will examine the nature of the skills gap among four fields (i.e., mechanical engineering, metal manufacturing, network and software development, and biotechnology) in a single state in order to provide an in-depth empirical analysis that can help inform the debate about the skills gap and its implications for workforce development, economic, and education policy.  This study is being conducted with funding support from the Center for Education and Work at UW-Madison.