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.