TERRE HAUTE —
Some causes of a predicament called the “skills gap” boil down to a sobering reality for Hoosiers …
Grand as this land is, we have some issues.
The term “skills gap” refers to a bundle of shortcomings that add up to one significant problem facing Indiana — thousands of adult residents lack the training to do 21st-century jobs. The recession of 2007 to 2009 exposed and compounded this Achilles’ heel as demand shrank, jobs and whole industries died, and unemployment climbed. Today, Indiana’s jobless rate of 8.2 percent remains above the national rate of 7.8.
Of that 8.2-percent unemployment rate, about 1.5 to 2 percent can be attributed to skills gap issues, according to Michael Hicks, director of the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research. By the Indiana Chamber of Commerce’s calculations, the state has almost 1 million people in need of vocational or college education to handle the high-tech tasks required by Indiana employers in the coming decade.
Is that a big deal? Last week, Chrysler announced plans to invest $374 million into transmission manufacturing in central Indiana, creating the largest such parts complex in the world. The facility will need 1,250 workers, and more than half must have advanced training. Jeff Griffin, director of the College of Technology at Purdue University’s Kokomo campus, told Indianapolis TV station Fox 59 there aren’t enough “people readily available for these positions.”
As a result, Purdue is adding a new mechanical engineering technology faculty member to boost training for students interested in that vocation. The university is also negotiating with Chrysler to develop a research partnership, Griffin said.
That response is refreshing. It also points to one of a handful of harsh realities Indiana must address.
~ The state must invest heavily in state-of-the-art education, from early childhood through adult career-changers. That investment will not be cheap. The Indiana House’s proposed budget doubles funding for the Skills Enhancement Fund — a resource to train Hoosier workers, including many whose trades disappeared in the recession — to $36 million. Councils to study the skills gap are forming, through new legislation, which is good, but the Legislature needs to boost funding of education at all age levels.
As Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar told The Associated Press, “We’ve got arguably almost a million people we need to help right now and the number who annually receive training services from federal and state resources is about 50,000 a year. This is hard stuff, but very important to start somewhere.”
Right now, Gov. Mike Pence is on a statewide tour, promoting his plan to cut Indiana’s already low personal income tax by 10 percent. It would fulfill his centerpiece campaign promise and improve his 2016 presidential candidacy hopes. But it would also reduce state revenue by a half-billion dollars. That’s why fellow Republicans in the Legislature left his tax cut out of their budgets. Education, hit hard by recession-era cuts, needs to grow to meet demand.
~ Many workers in the skills-gap group are passed over by employers because of risky health behaviors, Hicks said, such as smoking, drug use and obesity. Last week, Gallup-Healthways released its 2012 Well-Being Index for states, and Indiana ranked 49th (next to last) in health behaviors, down four spots from a year ago. Fixing that vast problem centers on better personal responsibility.
~ The skills gap, for some, actually amounts to a “work ethic gap.” Several sources in last week’s Tribune-Star series on the subject said prospective workers don’t understand the importance of work attendance, showing up on time, getting along with co-workers, and dressing and behaving appropriately. Some lose jobs over those flaws. Some never get hired. Many never had a family member model those traits.
As a state, Indiana must show it takes these issues seriously, or accept the skills gap long-term.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: Bridging the skills gap
Harsh realities demand action
- Editorials
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
Almost every Hoosier who starts college intends to finish. Unfortunately, those who arrive on campus unprepared in key academic areas are far less likely to fulfill that aspiration.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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EDITORIAL: Crack down on dumpers
There is a reason it’s called “illegal” dumping. It’s against the law. And there is a very good reason illegal dumping is against the law.
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Season of Day 2s arrives
Calendars in Cincinnati contain one extra holiday — Opening Day, traditionally the first Monday in April.
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Congress fails to recognize problem of education costs
Who hasn’t gotten this message yet? The cost of a college degree has become unaffordable for a wide swath of middle-class America.
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
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