Matching Workforce Skills with Employer Needs Now & Into the

FutureJames Hoelscher

University of Northern Iowa Business and Community Services – University Center

Workforce as a Priority for Economic Development Organizations

Source: IEDC Educational Research Partners Report, 2015Courtesy: David Myers, CEcD – Ponca City, OK

64%32%

3%1%

Assessment

Talent Development

Best Practices

Piloting & Risk Taking

LocalEconomic

Development&

Workforce

Assessment of Current & Future

• Business retention & expansion• Demographics/occupations• Understand the laborshed• Existing programming – k-12, employers• Who needs to be at the table?

27.1% of employed laborshed respondents willing to change employment, Wage $15.15

Most Common Occupations:

• Office and Administrative Support

• Food Preparation and Serving Related

• Sales and Related

• Production

Do You Know?

Talent Development

Current – Internal Immediate NeedsFuture• Iowa STEM• Entrepreneurship – not all about starting biz• New models for education

The “New Minimum”College Degree

Some College and/or Training

High School or Less

37%

28%

35%

11%

10%

79%

Source: National Governor’s Association, 2014Courtesy: David Myers, CEcD – Ponca City, OK

Best Practices

• Message of Raising the Bar

• Tours and Networking

INDEPENDENCE, Iowa --- Tired of wading in a relatively shallow labor pool, an Independence company started an innovative initiative to get young people excited about careers in manufacturing.Geater Machining and Manufacturing Co. of Independence, which builds precision parts for the aerospace, electronic and high-tech industries, is reaching out to area middle and high school students. The goal is to create a deep, readily available local workforce.The School Outreach Initiative, which began this summer, is already paying dividends. Geater officials hope it will ensure the longtime success of the company and community.Starmont High School junior Larry Hunt hadn’t considered a career in manufacturing until he toured the Geater plant in the fall as part of the outreach program. The 16-year-old thought being a machinist would be dirty, hard, monotonous, low-paying work.That changed while walking through the state-of-the-art plant filled with high-tech machines. He watched fabrication experts make radio and other component boxes out of aluminum with computer numerically controlled machines in a relatively clean, climate-controlled environment.Hunt also learned a trained CNC operator, after getting a two-year associate degree, can earn about $50,000 a year to start.

Piloting & Risk Taking

• Economic developers are full-time educators• Prepping them for the conversations vs. always

getting them up to speed • Solutions require risk• Businesses | jobs | tax Base – Can we always

have it all?

Baxter was the first robot to work closely alongside humans in an industrial setting, and its cartoon face was a major reason for its success. Rethink Robotics realized that the best user interface for a robot working alongside humans was the interface humans already use — the facial expressions and gestures people use to communicate focus, confusion, and need for help.

The Verge: Why robots are getting cuter:Rise of the adorable machines

By Josh Dzieza

Local Economic Developers: Workforce Reference Librarians

Matching Workforce Skills with Employer Needs Now & Into the

FutureJames Hoelscher

University of Northern Iowa Business and Community Services – University Center