Many tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) have a strong focus on career and technical education (CTE), offering students a plethora of opportunities to develop skillsets that prepare them for the workforce. In today's job market, there is a dearth of skilled laborers such as hospitality workers, construction managers, dental hygienists,…

The campus of United Tribes Technical College (UTTC) has a collection of three large solar arrays over the UTTC Skills Center. This building has been the training hub for professional trades such as carpentry, welding, automotive, commercial vehicle driving, heavy equipment operation, and sustainable agriculture. Most recently, renewable energy,…

The skilled trades have long been ignored and under-valued in society. This article explores the potential problem with maintaining the status quo and the impacts it will have on future generations. It considers the steps educational institutions and leaders can make in addressing the skilled trades shortage and how changes to the current…

Are some graduates going on to do non-graduate jobs? Evidence collected from interviews with universities careers services shows many have in fact seen an improvement in graduate employment -- specifically, in more graduates entering 'high skilled professions' and unemployment rates going down. Many universities have implemented a mandatory work…

This appendix documents the methodology used by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce to project educational demand within the US economy. The methodology produces forecasts using data from two private analytics companies. The authors use occupational forecasts provided by Lightcast that are calibrated to total employment…

The staggering highs and lows of the recent US economy and their effect on the labor force has been deeply unsettling. The US has come through the COVID-19 recession, the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, followed by the quickest recovery ever. One trend in the workforce has remained unaltered throughout this historic change:…

In the post-World War II period, workers with a high school diploma or less were able to attain jobs with middle-class wages in American industry. Good jobs were available in manufacturing and other blue-collar industries that employed large numbers of high school-educated workers. But as automation, globalization, and related phenomena have led…

Skilled Technical Sciences (STS) programs prepare students for success through academic integration and technical skill development. This fact sheet from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Office of College and Career Readiness, Skilled Technical Sciences provides information on these programs.

This paper focuses on the potential of competency assessment to support the long-term growth of the labour market by facilitating the appropriate employment of skilled immigrants. A competency-informed approach involves looking holistically at an individual's ability to apply knowledge and skills with appropriate judgment in a defined setting. The…

The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (Perkins V) places a strong emphasis on the alignment of Career Technical Education (CTE) programs of study with state, regional and local economies. Specifically, the legislation requires Perkins-funded programs to prepare students for "high-skill, high-wage, or…

The author earned a physics degree in college and then failed to find a job in the aerospace industry. He writes of how he fell back on his training as an electrician for sustenance and from that extrapolates how the trades have become confused with work of the hands rather than of the mind. He uses the venerable debate between Booker T.…

States increasingly need a more highly skilled workforce to meet the requirements of businesses, keep up with a rapidly changing economy and accelerate growth that leads to economic opportunity for workers and families. As a result, governors recognize that their role is to bring together education, workforce and economic development as talent…

A recent International Labour Organization (ILO) report has documented the limited opportunities for women in the labour market (ILO, 2016). The report shows that women face higher unemployment and underemployment than men, are more often employed in the informal labour market and in family enterprises, and are overrepresented in lower skill…

This careers strategy is part of the plan to make Britain fairer, improve social mobility and offer opportunity to everyone. The ambitious, modern Industrial Strategy sets out a long-term plan to boost national productivity and the earning power of people throughout the country. Britain wants every person, no matter what their background is, to be…

In this article, the author talks about the role and functions of a tower technician. A tower technician climbs up the face of telecommunications towers to remove, install, test, maintain, and repair a variety of equipment--from antennas to light bulbs. Tower technicians also build shelters and radiofrequency shields for electronic equipment, lay…