Workers needed - opinion

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June 23, 2000

Opinion

Workers needed
To get ahead,get a skill

SALISBURY POST

Question: What did the graduate of the four-year college say to the graduate of the two-year tech school?

Answer: Would you like a small drink or a large drink with that order of fries?

Not very funny, is it? The point is that people with technical skills have a better chance of getting a good job quickly— and avoiding the burger-flipping business — than some of their supposedly better-educated peers.

So say the people at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. And they should know. Working in partnership with the Rowan and Cabarrus chambers of commerce, the college has concluded a study that finds dramatic need for more skilled laborers in this region.

For example, from 2000 to 2005, the study predicts a need for an average of 225 new carpenters each year, 265 retail sales clerks, 186 nurses aides and orderlies, 87 registered nurses, 69 correction officers, 90 truck drivers, 48 automotive technicians, 89 food and lodging managers, 57 systems analysts. The list goes on.

Employers may look on this study as a statement of the obvious, but it offers important proof for high school guidance counselors, students themselves and people who have opted out of the workforce for various reasons. Those not bound for four-year colleges still face plenty of opportunity — some say better opportunity — if they will learn skills at a college like RCCC.

“We have to get the word out,” RCCC Vice President Ann Hovey told about 80 business and community leaders Thursday. Many people are earning more and getting jobs faster with two-year degrees, she said. Technical and skilled occupations are growing and in need of more workers.

The study also brought particular focus on the “structurally unemployed” — people who are out of work because they have deficient or outdated skills, such as a blacksmith. With unemployment so low, this group may offer the region the best chance for workforce expansion. All they need is new training.

So evolves the Rowan-Cabarrus economy. For nearly a century, thousands of families counted on jobs in textile mills — jobs that required little education and, for many years, low skills. Now that that segment of the economy is fading away, guidance counselors are doing their best to convince students to graduate from high school and seek a higher education. But the most emphasized goal is a four-year degree. Now Rowan-Cabarrus — which has some self-interest in the issue — says those counselors need to think again.

“There are many high quality technical jobs that pay well in our region (automotive, electronics, electrical, machining, air conditioning, etc.),” the study says. “Yet, it is very difficult to recruit high school students into technical training programs.... This is a longstanding societal problem that can be solved only by changing community values and attitudes toward technical careers.”

Consider the process begun. The RCCC study — “Post-Secondary Workforce Development Profile Through the Year 2005 in Rowan and Cabarrus Counties” — brings new clarity and urgency to an ongoing trend. Good luck to the college and the chambers as they work to fill the growing employment gap.

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