The Indiana Skills2Compete Coalition has released a report that finds a growing number of unfilled “middle skills” jobs, and concludes that Indiana’s skills gap is an adult problem that will require adult solutions.
The report “Indiana’s Forgotten Middle-Skills: 2013” was released by co-chairs GOP State Sen. Dennis Kruse and Jessica Fraser of the Indiana Institute for Working Families.
The coalition’s report comes at a time when Indiana’s unemployment rate is stuck above 8 percent and more than 44 percent of Hoosiers between 18 and 65 have no post-secondary education at all, meaning that over 1.8 million Hoosier adults currently lack the skill attainment to be competitive in the workforce.
The report finds that the largest and fastest-growing segment of Indiana’s skills gap comes from middle-skill jobs (those that require at least a high-school diploma but less than a four-year college degree).
Middle-skill jobs account for over 550,000 job openings in Indiana – half of all job openings through 2020. The number of middle-skill job openings has increased by almost 63,000 jobs over the number of middle-skill openings projected from 2006-2016.
Additionally, the demographic projections for Indiana’s workforce show that 65 percent of the people who will be in Indiana’s workforce in the year 2025 were already working adults in 2010 – long past the traditional high-school-to-college pipeline. For this reason, training and education must be targeted towards adults who are working or could be working today.
While 54 percent of all jobs in Indiana are classified as middle-skill, only 47 percent of Hoosiers likely have the skills and credentials for these jobs. This also raises concerns that the state may not realize its full long-term growth and competitiveness in the global marketplace. Middle-skill jobs are expected to remain essential to Indiana’s economy into the foreseeable future.
While the proportion of high- and low-skill workers in Indiana is expected to decline from 2010-2025, the percentage of middle-skill workers will experience only a small increase, suggesting that there may not be enough workers trained at the middle-skill level to close the gap.
Based on findings from the report, the coalition has selected four policy priorities for 2014 that focus on middle-skill attainment for Indiana’s adult workers.
- Allow part-time students greater access to state financial aid.
- Continue differentiation of services for students in Adult Basic Education.
- Maximize on-the-job training (OJT) opportunities.
- Promote the statewide establishment of prior learning assessments.
The Indiana Skills2Compete Coalition is made up of a bipartisan group of state legislators as well as education policymakers, business, labor, and community leaders that have come together with the aim of closing Indiana’s skills gap and serving as a resource for policymakers working toward that end.
