Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/96377
UP FRONT Regional Roundup » 11 n Face Time » 15 n Connections "We need to let our employers and the rest of the world know that Wisconsin understands the future of work and will have the talent they need, when they need it," – Scott T. VanderSanden, president of AT&T » 1 8 Wisconsin and president of Competitive Wisconsin By Mar y B eth Mat zek Closing the gap New study spells out how Wisconsin can find the workers it needs It 's something Linda Salchenberger, Marquette University's associate provost for strategic planning, kept hearing over and over again from businesses: I can't find enough workers. But while the state's unemployment rate has gone down a bit in recent months, it's still at 8 percent and many of those people, unfortunately, don't have the skills companies are looking for. A new workforce study – Be Bold 2: Growing Wisconsin's Talent Pool – by Competitive Wisconsin Inc. bears that out. Madison-based Competitive Wisconsin recently released the results of a year-long examination of the state's job skills challenges and opportunities. Bold's co-chair. The data collected and analyzed in Be Bold 2: Growing Wisconsin's Talent Pool shows that the state does not have enough skilled workers to meet existing employer needs, while at the same time there are a lot of people looking for jobs who aren't qualified for the open positions. Unless the state acts now, Salchenberger says Wisconsin will confront a major shortage of skilled workers within the next decade. "It's going to happen quicker than a lot of us expected. Take, for example, the number of nurses who are going to retire within the next few years. The numbers are huge," she says. Scott T. VanderSanden, president "We kept hearing anecdotally that there was a skills gap out there, but now we have the research that backs it up and we can start on the path of trying to bridge the gap." –Linda S alchenberger, Marquette University's associate provost for strategic planning Competitive Wisconsin did the study in partnership with Manpower Group. "We kept hearing anecdotally that there was a skills gap out there, but now we have the research that backs it up and we can start on the path of trying to bridge the gap," says Salchenberger, who also serves as Be 10 | Insight • D e c e m b e r 2 012 of AT&T Wisconsin and president of Competitive Wisconsin, says discussions were held with hundreds of employers, workers and educators across the state to pull together the study information. "We need to let our employers and the rest of the world know that on the web T o read the entire Be Bold 2: Growing Wisconsin's Talent Pool report, visit www.competitivewi.com. Wisconsin understands the future of work and will have the talent they need, when they need it," he says. The study shows there's a definite need for Wisconsin to move quickly in addressing the issue, VanderSanden says. The report outlined three main areas that need to be addressed: improve the relationships between economic development officials and people working in the workforce/talent development industries; change the way real-time information regarding jobs, skill requirements and career pathways is collected and shared; and provide support to Wisconsin companies looking to attract workers from out of the state as well as provide workforce development support to companies Why Be Bold 2? T he same group behind Be Bold 2 – Competitive Wisconsin – also funded a study that looked at how the state could jump-start its economic development initiatives so Wisconsin could compete better against other states. One of the recommendations from that study was the creation of a statewide Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, which Gov. Scott Walker created in 2010. w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m