Lawmakers must restore funding to train high-tech workforce
Washington has a problem. We have too many good jobs. Why is that a problem? Not enough of them are going to Washingtonians.
As leaders representing Washington’s innovative technology, life science and aerospace industries, we have watched for a decade as Washington’s economy ranked first in GDP growth and ninth in job growth. During that same time, Washington has been a top destination for college-educated talent; meaning that our high-paying, high-demand jobs are going to people trained elsewhere because we aren’t preparing our own kids for those jobs.
The good news? There’s still plenty of opportunity if we get our act together.
Projections show that we will have 1.5 million job openings over the next decade and a shortfall of nearly 600,000 credentialed workers. Seventy-five percent of those jobs will require a postsecondary credential such as a degree, industry-aligned certificate, or license. Programs that provide students with a combination of a degree or credential in a high-demand field along with interactive industry experience are the best path to securing a job. Unfortunately, only 40 percent of Washington high school students obtain such a credential by the time they turn 26.
The challenge is that Washington’s economy has rapidly transformed from being relatively quiet and natural resource-driven to a national leader in cutting-edge industries such as cloud computing, life science, space exploration and clean tech. But our higher education system hasn’t kept pace.