It takes skill to get a job
Employers need skilled workers but too few students getting a post-secondary education

By BILL POWER Staff Reporter

An alarm about the looming Nova Scotia labour crunch is sounded in a report on education and the workforce released Wednesday by NovaKnowledge.

Changing demographics, advances in technology and participation in the global economy have created a new "employment landscape" requiring employers to develop closer ties with the education system, project co-ordinator Phyllis Collier said in an interview Wednesday about the report, Education and the Economy: Advocating Change.

"Employers are hungry for skilled workers and post-secondary institutions are hungry for students. The numbers are alarming and it makes us wonder where the required people are going to come from."

NovaKnowledge, which promotes high-tech growth in the province, hosted eight public policy debates from Yarmouth to Sydney to provide an ear for workplace concerns of employers, educators, organized labour, parents and individuals.

Representatives of Nova-Knowledge had tape recorders and notepads at the ready and learned, for example, that post-secondary institutions in Nova Scotia were scrambling to fill 3,500 seats this upcoming school year.

At the same time, major employers like Dexter Construction and Michelin and others said they were desperate for skilled workers, Ms. Collier said. Dexter is hunting for people at immigration fairs in Europe, while Michelin is looking to hire about 1,400 people in three years.

Despite a growing worker shortage, the NovaKnowledge report indicates 58 per cent of young people who graduate from high school do not immediately go on to post-secondary education and skilled trades are often perceived as "not being noble" careers.

More must be done to support young people in their pursuit of high-paying, highly skilled careers through innovative secondary school programs and work-experience partnerships with industry and to meet the needs of "at risk" students, reads one portion of the report.

"How are educators supposed to meet these challenges?" asked Ms. Collier.

Recommendations for improvement include improving literacy rates, establishing education, training and employment partnerships for students, and improving access to training opportunities that respond to labour market needs.

The report also calls for more stringent accountability measures in the education system at all levels, including more "connectedness" from school boards and the communities they serve.

Portions of the report outline immigration problems experienced by employers and potential employees.

To be more welcoming of immigrants, the NovaKnowledge report suggests much work must be done in this province to improve recognition of credentials and the "integration experience" for immigrants into communities and places of work.

Ms. Collier said the New Beginnings Online distance education program, implemented by the Nova Scotia Community College and the Metropolitan Immigrant Settlement Association, is an example of how existing systems can be adjusted to respond to immediate needs.

"Immigrants with qualifications must have their credentials recognized quicker," she said.

( bpower@herald.ca)

’The numbers are alarming and it makes us wonder where the required people are going to come from.’