Guiding the next generation of students into direct pathways to employment relies on meaningful connection between industry and education.
Chelle Travis
Executive Director, SkillsUSA
The writing has been on the wall for the better part of a decade. Tomorrow’s workforce must be skilled. It will be the technical, hands-on, make-it-and-fix-it skills that will lead the next generation to economic prosperity and career success.
According to Manpower Group’s annual Talent Shortage Survey, 77% of U.S. employers are struggling to find talent this year, which is up from 71% last year. This marks a 17-year high and is being universally felt across industries, company size, and region.
The next generation of students will be called upon to take up occupations that their parents were directed away from. American businesses are looking for plumbers, electricians, mechanics, masons, welders, and technicians to fill the void created by retirement of the Baby Boomers and the college-for-all philosophy that shifted Gen Xers and Millennials away from skilled careers.
Career ready, day one
This creates incredible opportunities for the younger generations who we will rely upon to keep the American economy viable. Couple that demand with changing attitudes about college cost and outcomes, crippling student loan debt, and the rise of AI, and it’s no wonder why countless students are eager to pursue career and technical education (CTE) and a future in skilled work.
SkillsUSA, the No. 1 workforce development organization for students, is helping prepare students for skilled work by not only developing the technical skills they’ll need to be successful, but also the workplace and personal skills that employers demand. SkillsUSA’s programming is designed with industry input to ensure students are career ready on Day 1.
SkillsUSA is leading the charge on building closer partnerships between educators, employers and policymakers to align curricula with industry needs, address skill gaps, and create a more cohesive ecosystem for workforce development.
A well-rounded workforce
Scaling access to SkillsUSA or any other career and technical student organization (CTSO) represents one of the highest-impact and most cost-effective interventions available to strengthen workforce development outcomes. With only 17% of the 12 million CTE students nationwide participating in CTSOs, SkillsUSA is well poised to double its membership and reach more students with programming that’s integral to CTE instruction.
Direct alignment with CTE programs, expansion of work-based learning experiences, like apprenticeships, and access to SkillsUSA Pathful — our all-in-one career exploration and workforce readiness platform — allows learners to participate in activities that complement and reinforce content learned in the classroom and in the workplace. It is rare to find many things today that students, educators, and hundreds of companies all agree on. SkillsUSA is that rare thing.
Rest assured that our future is in good hands, because it’s in skilled hands.
