Byline: Erasing the Middle Skills Stigma 2014

Erasing the Middle Skills Stigma

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B y P enny D elaney C othran , APR

ongratulations to the graduating class of 2014! You are collectively the most indebted class of four-year college graduates in the history of the United States. According to Time magazine, student debt averaged $35,051 for

2014-2015. Even when adjusted for inflation, that’s double the debt

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iddle-skilled jobs account

for 54 percent of the U.S. labor market. More than

load of students 20 years ago. That’s not all. In June 2010, total U.S. 50 percent of the top 50 student loan debt passed total revolving credit (better known to us as jobs in South Carolina do credit card debt) for the first time in our collective credit histories. (That’s not require a bachelor’s $830 billion in student loans versus $826.5 billion in revolving credit). degree or higher.

Knowing this, how do families weigh the pros and cons of a fouryear college degree before signing those acceptance letters? For a century or more, there was only one option for the American boot-strapper’s upward mobility: the bachelor’s degree. While we still need these degrees (and advanced degrees, too), South Carolina’s students should know of the array of paths and options laying ahead of each and every high school graduate.

“Every parent, grandparent and kid in high school wants to go on and get a four year degree. That’s been the dream that we’ve all been sold,” says Brad Neese, director of Apprenticeship Carolina. “But it comes at a really high price. In some cases, that price can be virtually eliminated by going through a nontraditional route like an apprenticeship program.” Many families would agree that a $35,000 price tag might be worth the expense if it guaranteed their child a fulfilling, rewarding and amply salaried position at the end of it all. Could there be another means to that end? Enter Apprenticeship Carolina™.

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South Carolina Business (SCB): What does apprenticeship seek to accomplish that a traditional four year education track does not?

Brad Neese (BN): An apprenticeship is a combination of education and application of the education. The heart of an apprenticeship is the job training that’s overseen by a qualified mentor. You can go to school at night to learn the theory behind what you do on a daily basis. It’s honing your craft.

SCB: Where does Apprenticeship Carolina see the critical needs and skills gaps?

BN: We’re seeing it across all industries. We’re not just seeing it in manufacturing or IT. We’re seeing it in healthcare and hospitality and tourism. This is different than the way we’ve grown apprenticeships in the past in our state, where they’ve traditionally been in crafts and trades like welding and construction. Actually, that’s only 10 percent of what we do [now] in our state.

Pulling business to the table to be part of the education process has been really important to us. Apprenticeship programs have the ability to customize education to fit [the business’s] needs.

SCB: Why should an adult look at a job in these critical needs areas first?

BN: There’s opportunity there. They’re high demand jobs, and they pay really, really well. These apprenticeship programs can help those folks create a roadmap to get to those higher-skilled jobs.

SCB: Is apprenticeship the short road? What are the variables that weigh on an individual’s decision to seek an apprenticeship?

BN: There are folks with four-year degrees who aren’t finding employment in management and are seeking apprenticeship-type jobs so they can find employment. Our apprentices’ average age is 28 years old. So these are people who aren’t fresh out of high school looking for their first job. Often times, these are people who have families, have had previous lives, and are now seeking to change their career or get on a career trajectory that’s going to help them further along.

SCB: How do you recruit businesses?

BN: At the end of the day, we’ve got to have more companies who are willing to use apprenticeship programs. We have a little over 700 companies now, but there’s something like 250,000 companies in our state. It’s very difficult for us to get out in front of parents right now and think about the apprenticeship route because there are not enough apprenticeship opportunities available.

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o, what options were being presented to high schoolers? Susan Flanagan, director of the Office of Career and Technology Education at the South Carolina Department of Education, is a 30-year veteran of the Department of Education, becoming the CATE [Career and Technology Education] state director in 2012.

“My passion is to increase awareness of what CATE programs have to offer in our secondary schools and the knowledge of career pathways that exist for our students in South Carolina,” she begins.

SCB: What industries are affected by the shortfall of middle-skilled labor? Where are the critical needs jobs going to be in the future?

Susan Flanagan (SF): Every industry is affected by the shortfall of middle-skilled labor. Healthcare is a

major industry in South Carolina – but a hospital is more than the doctors and registered nurses who work there.

Essential employees include radiation technologists, pharmacy technicians, nursing assistants, medical coders, equipment and facility maintenance operators, and the truck drivers who deliver medical supplies to the hospital. For every high-tech job created, there are numerous other jobs created in that same industry or supporting industries that will require a trained workforce with more than a high school education but less than a four-year college degree. In South Carolina, projections for the best occupations are in the healthcare, manufacturing and transportation and logistics fields. Opportunities also exist in construction, business (especially information technology) and middle-level management.

SCB: What is your department doing? What strides has your organization made in addressing the gap in critical needs workforce development?

SF: The Office of Career and Technology Education assists school districts and career centers across the state in providing programs within the 16 career clusters, allowing students to be exposed to career pathways, gaining employable skills while still in high school and transitioning to a post-secondary institution to earn further certifications/credentials. Our schools

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Susan Flanagan speaks at the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s education and workforce development forum on CATE programs.

have local advisory committees made up of business partners to ensure that instruction matches industry needs. Articulation agreements exist between our school districts and the local technical colleges that allow the seamless transition from high school to post-secondary education so that students have the potential to be gainfully employed. In South Carolina, 96 percent of students who take the prescribed four course sequence in a Career and Technical (CATE) program are placed into a postsecondary institution, employment or the military. That is a statistic that tells a powerful story!

SCB: When speaking with educators and parents, why should some students be steered away from the

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4-year college “dream” a n d t o w a rd t h i n g s like credentialing and apprenticeships? What are the stigmas? What are the factors that play into that type of decision (e.g. access to financial aid and scholarships, the hiring market, the economy, long term student debt)?

SF: No one should be steered away from their “dreams” – but all opportunities should be equally presented to allow for informed decisionmaking. We want every child who graduates from high school to be college- and career-ready, but that does not necessarily mean a four-year college degree. The 21st century workplace is a highly technical workplace that demands workers who are high school graduates with some specialized preparation beyond high school.

Data recently released from the National Skills Coalition indicates that middle-skilled jobs account for 54 percent of the U.S. labor market. More than 50 percent of the top 50 jobs in South Carolina do not require a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Last year, CATE students earned credentials in fields such as nursing, welding, automotive and computer networking, and participated in 100,944 work-based

learning experiences. During this past year, our office began working with Apprenticeship Carolina at the South Carolina Technical College System to promote youth apprenticeships to high school students. These apprenticeships allow students to gain first-hand experience in actual industry settings. The collaboration often includes the local technical college and provides students with the chance to earn high school credit and college credit simultaneously. In several cases, the technical college pays for the student’s tuition and the student can earn a certificate or credential, get a job and be free from student loans. The Michelin Technical Scholars Program is just one example of such a program.

It offers scholarships to select students in the Electronic Engineering Technology major at Midlands Technical College and covers the cost of tuition, fees and books – while allowing the student to participate in a paid co-op program reinforcing classroom knowledge by working part time in a Michelin manufacturing facility.

SCB: What’s the greatest barrier in your opinion of filling middle-skilled jobs?

SF: Changing the mind-set that middle-skilled jobs are not good jobs. These are good paying jobs; they are nothing like the factory jobs of yesterday. These jobs require advanced skills and knowledge of technology.

By educating people about these new opportunities, we can attract students to CATE programs and convince them, and more importantly, their parents, that these jobs are future pathways for job security and financial success.

Penny Delaney Cothran is the multimedia manager at the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce and editor of South Carolina Business.