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Small Business Human Resources Workforce Development Your Questions Answered Success Stories

March 2004 — Vol. 82, No. 2

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Creating a world-class workforce

By Kenneth O. Decko

CBIA President and CEO

 

Businesses typically cite Connecticut’s skilled workforce as one of the state’s biggest assets. But our companies now need a workforce that’s not only among the best in the nation but the best in the world. Relentlessly changing technology and increasingly sophisticated global competitors keep upping the ante. The best keep getting better.

To help our companies stay competitive, the CBIA Education Foundation has been working to improve both our current and future workforces, especially in terms of math and science skills — areas in which American students have lagged behind those of many other countries.

A recent example is the Connecticut State Scholars program, which we launched in January in New Haven and Danbury public schools and will kick off in September at Vinal Technical High School in Middletown. This program encourages high school students to take more rigorous courses, including math and science. We are also using a National Science Foundation grant to introduce high school and community college teachers to workplace uses of technology so they can bring that knowledge into their schools (see article).

In addition, we recently won a $3 million U.S. Department of Labor grant to provide technical training to 300 unemployed and incumbent workers in bioscience, biomedical and pharmaceutical manufacturing (see article).

Manufacturers of all kinds face an impending shortage of skilled workers. Since manufacturing is vital to Connecticut's future, CBIA is urging both the state and federal governments to take action to ensure a skilled manufacturing workforce. For example, they should demand greater emphasis on math and science education in our schools, and encourage more young people to take math, science and engineering programs. We’re heartened to see that engineering enrollment has already increased at UConn (see article).

To learn more about workforce development efforts, including how employers can get involved, please see the education and training areas at cbia.com.