Studer Community Institute

Beating the "workforce development" drum

October 14, 2014
/ Carlton Proctor
/ economy

The drumbeat of “workforce development” resonated across the Panhandle this week as experts hosted by Gulf Power Co. repeatedly drove home the importance of preparing today’s youth for the jobs of tomorrow. The takeaway for some 600 business and academic leaders attending Gulf Power’s annual Economic Symposium in Destin Monday and Tuesday was simple: Companies locate and expand in communities that can anticipate and quickly meet their workforce needs. “Technical workforce capability is what the Northwest Florida business community needs to differentiate itself from other regions that want the same high wage jobs,” said featured speaker Nicholas T. Pinchuk, chairman and CEO of Snap-on Inc., a major international manufacturer of tools. “The number one criteria for companies looking to expand their operations is not wages, but a skilled workforce,” he said. “Build it and they will come.” Workforce development has been a recurring theme highlighted in Gulf Power’s 2013 and 2014 symposiums, and local and state educators and business leaders have been paying attention. “Industry must engage educators to match curriculums to the available jobs,” Pinchuk said. Along those lines the centerpiece of Monday’s symposium was a panel discussion featuring some of Florida’s top administrators and educators. Moderated by Gulf Power’s John Hutchinson, director of economic development, the panel consisted of: Marshall Criser III, chancellor, State University of Florida; Randy Hanna, chancellor, Florida College System; Chris Hart IV, president and CEO, CareerSource Florida; Gray Swoope, Florida Secretary of Commerce; and Rod Duckworth, chancellor, Career and Adult Education, Florida Department of Education. Criser said he is “seeing today a lot of synergies among Florida’s universities and colleges” with regards to creating technical curricula that responds to industry needs. “I want Florida to become a global leader for workforce talent,” Criser said. Hart said he wants to see a statewide educational system that ties workforce training directly to the marketplace. To that end Hart said educators and industry must continuously collaborate to meet future job demands. Nearly everyone on the panel agreed that Florida’s education system must become more flexible and attuned to the market place. “We’re going to have to move to an “anytime-any place” education system,” said Hanna. Hanna said Florida eventually needs to get rid of what he called an “agrarian-based” education system where students are off for three months in the summer. “There is a school in Arizona that starts a new semester for incoming students every week,” Hanna said. Swoope said one of the biggest challenges facing Florida’s workforce training schools is its response time. “When an employer comes to Florida offering several hundred jobs how do you address the company’s needs immediately?” he asked. Duckworth said one strategy for that challenge is creating a seamless, statewide education system that incorporates some degree of workforce training at every level — from elementary school to colleges and universities. So, for example, a workforce training curriculum created for a particular industry in Palm Beach immediately could be transported to a technical school or college in Pensacola should the need arise. [caption id="attachment_5636" align="alignright" width="300"]

Rick Harper[/caption] The symposium also featured Rick Harper, a noted economist and director of the University of West Florida’s Office of Economic Development and Engagement. A regular featured speaker at the Gulf Power symposium, Harper had some relatively good news for the audience. Among the highlights: — Florida’s economy is growing at an annual rate of 3.5 percent and that rate of growth is expected to continue into 2015. — The Oil Spill Recovery Act, state legislation that set aside $30 million to help the Panhandle recover from the BP spill in 2010, is expected to create some 9,000 new jobs at an average cost of $3,000 per job. Harper’s OEDE administered the three-year program and vetted all individual grants to qualified businesses and industries. — Manufacturing jobs have declined dramatically over the past few decades, but jobs in the service and hospitality industry have increased dramatically. — Projections show that the number of seniors — people 65 years and older— will more than double in the region by 2040, creating a strong demand for “face-to-face” services.

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Beating the "workforce development" drum

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