The skills gap between employer demand and worker supply

We are currently facing a dual workforce challenge: our employers are struggling to meet their need for a skilled workforce, and far too many of our residents have insufficient skills and preparation to enter, advance and succeed in the labor market.

• The Cincinnati region is projected to add 103,600 new jobs from 2004-2014, and much of the growth is occurring in service-providing industries.
  

• The fastest growing occupations in the region require education beyond high school. Occupations requiring at least some postsecondary training are growing twice as fast as those requiring less education. In fact, middle-skill jobs, which require more than high-school, but less than a four-year degree, make up over half of the region's labor market.
  

• Half of all employers have difficulty finding qualified workers, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Our region is not prepared to meet  this projected demand for skilled workers. Compared nationally, our workforce has low educational attainment and high rates of poverty and unemployment – especially in the urban core. 

• In Cincinnati, nearly one-in-six adults lack a high school diploma or GED. 

• Nearly half of the region's adults lack education beyond high school. 

This gap between employers’ needs and worker preparation impedes our region’s ability to attract, retain and grow companies, and prevents our region from realizing its full economic potential. Without a doubt, our region’s long-term economic success depends on our ability to grow the skills of our workforce.

Our current workforce strategy is inadequate in meeting this challenge

Our current workforce strategy is inadequate in meeting employers' demand for a skilled workforce and workers' need for accessible career and educational pathways. The region’s workforce policies, resources and strategies are mostly contained in jurisdictional, sectoral, and organizational silos with historically weak collaboration. Moreover, while some individual workforce programs and providers are achieving impressive results, the system as a whole lacks the capacity to supply the skilled workforce that employers demand.

The challenge before us is to improve and align our region’s workforce policies, strategies and resources into a coherent, sustainable system that effectively meets the dual needs of employers and employees for the long-term.