Final Report

Introduction
On November 5th, under auspices of the Public Forum Institute and the Honorable Bob Clement, representatives of local government, industry, community organizations and concerned citizens at-large gathered to address the challenge of workforce development in the new economy.  Congressman Clement opened his 13th annual economic summit by emphasizing the connection between future economic prosperity and workforce development.  He pointed out that given the continually changing needs of the new economy, workforce development is a life-long commitment that requires cooperation between the government and private sectors.

Jonathan Ortmans, president of the Public Forum Institute was the next presenter.  He pointed out that there exists a shortage of labor in three critical areas - education, healthcare and certain technology sectors.  For example, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a need for 2.6 million working registered nurses by the year 2005, 800,000 more registered nurses than currently available.  The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics anticipates that 2.2 million more teachers will be needed in U.S. schools by 2008.  In the late 1990s, phenomenal growth in the U.S. economy and the rapid expansion of technology resulted in a critical shortage of skilled labor.  This workforce shortage dramatically underscored how the “skills gap” in this country could manifest itself during a tight labor market.  In addition, there are three critical skills in short supply and sought after universally by employers in the new economy.  They are:  1) critical thinking 2) problem solving and 3) interpersonal relations.  

The focus of the summit, and the national HELP WANTED series was to identify what is taking place at the community level to address these challenges, and the forum’s first presenter and panelists highlighted some of the most successful initiatives nationally, throughout the state of Tennessee, and locally in Nashville.

Session One: Identifying Trends in the Workforce Shortages
Education's Challenge:  A View for Systemic Change, Daniel Hull
Mr. Hull, President and CEO of CORD, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving workforce development, posited that "today all jobs require both head and hand skills" and workers must prepare for a career as opposed to a job.  He also contended that the current education system does not serve as much as 75% of students well, and therefore reform is needed.  

He proceeded to outline his vision of a new educational system, which calls for the 'contextualization' of learning and a stronger emphasis on math and sciences.  As part of this new paradigm, he argued for stronger partnerships between business and educational sectors, utilizing technology as an integral part of the process of teaching and learning. 
One of the critical elements of this partnership is  'Career Clusters' which aggregates occupations according to knowledge and skills and leads to a 'technical core' in each cluster.  A second important element is work-based learning which provides students with 'real-world' experience.  

The objective of this new model, according to Mr. Hull, is to provide students with the necessary skills for entry level jobs as well a to create a broad based system of learning which empowers the students to pursue a wide range of careers because they have acquired a universal skill set.
 

Session 2: Solutions through Partnerships
Panel Discussion: Success Stories and Best Practices
Mr. Gregg Betheil of the National Academy Foundation supported the discussion that had already taken place by prioritizing the idea of 'contextualizing' learning.  He described the structure of the NAF and argued that we should be looking to create the following attributes in our educational system: 1) Industry-wide participation; 2) Intermediary is key to partnerships; 3) Development of a replicable (sustainable) model; 4) Controlled growth ensuring quality as a first priority.  He also cited statistics that indicated that students, who hold jobs during high school, contrary to popular opinion, actually have better standardized test scores and higher levels of academic success.  He attributed this to the development of pragmatic critical thinking and problem solving skills in the workplace.

Les Winningham of the Tennessee General Assembly described the founding of the East Tennessee Enterprise Partnership, which was established to obtain funding for job training in rural areas.  As a result of their efforts, test scores improved and the drop out rate declined in Scott County.  He supports the creation of these kinds of cooperatives to contribute to student motivation.

Ms. Janet Rachel of the Dell Corporation described her company’s development approach, a key component of which is diversity in the work force.   Fifty percent of their employees are women and/or minorities.  Recruitment from locals schools is essential their success.

James King, Vice Chancellor of the Tennessee Technology Center, emphasized specific/technical skill development in fields such as welding and IT.
 

Session 3: Looking to the Future
Panel Discussion: How will recent events affect Nashville's Jobs and Economy?
It was clear from the panel discussion that Nashville has suffered some adverse economic consequences that are attributable to recent events.  However, these adverse consequences are mainly concentrated in the airline and hospitality industries.  For example, Bebe Holland of the Aerostructures Corporation and Thomas Negri, the general manager of the Loews Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel, cited a 10% and 4.8% reduction in their workforce as a result of slumping demand, respectively.  In addition, many major air carriers have eliminated flights in and out of the Nashville airport, with the exception of Southwest Airlines.  

I was also clear that the panelist believed that these displacements and layoffs were temporary. Supporting this notion is Peter Rousseau, Assistant Professor of Economics at Vanderbilt University, who stated that, ' . . . despite recent set backs, Nashville's economy will continue to move forward.'  It should be noted that Southwest's bookings for the upcoming holiday season are consistent with last year's results.  But insuring the safety of travelers is paramount for these bookings to be realized, a Southwest Airlines representative contended. 

Moreover, it was believed that Nashville has suffered less than many of its counterparts. 
In addition, given the temporary nature of these recent layoffs, Dr. Peter Rousseau commented that '… we need to ease the burden of those that have experienced temporary displacement and layoffs.'  He suggested that our focus should be on the extension of unemployment benefits and programs that will enable the recently unemployed to maintain their health insurance.
 

Keynote Address
In his introduction Dr. Gordon Gee, Chancellor of Vanderbilt University emphasized that broad-based education is absolutely necessary in developing a flexible work force.  He also stated, " I believe emphatically that education is the antidote to terrorism."

Ms. Shelley Hymes, the forum’s keynote speaker, and Director of the Office of the 21st Century Workforce at the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, DC outlined the Bush Administration policies on workforce development.  The Bush Administration's long-run emphasis is on  (1) skill obtainment (2) changing demographics and (3) the future of the American Workplace. Skill obtainment and workforce development requires government and private cooperation.  However, she emphasized that 'we need to avoid creating new and rigid programs.'  Rather, she encouraged the further development of existing systems and institutions, positing that all should become inherently flexible and accommodating of change.  This, Hymes believes, will be the key to our future economic prosperity

The Bush Administration will expand retraining programs to enable workers to cope with the changing economy.  In addition, immigration and the employment of previously under employed groups is essential to successfully manage the impending labor shortage.  In the short-run, the Bush Administration is proposing a stimulus package that promotes growth and hopes to reverse the recent downward economic trends.  The package includes tax reductions for individuals and corporations to increase consumer confidence and spending, accelerated depreciation to spur investment and extended unemployment benefits to ease the burdens of displacement.

At the outset of the forum, the question was: How do communities reconcile the disconnect we are seeing between the layoff of workers in one sector of the economy, and shortages in another sector.  Congressman Clement’s annual economic summit in Nashville successfully brought together business and community leaders, educators, citizens and elected officials to discuss these issues and learn from “best practices” of those initiatives that are currently working to bridge this divide, and to further the growth and expansion of Nashville’s economy, in these particularly difficult times.