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Matchmaking
Florida has lots of non-college-bound students, and employers have plenty of high-paying, skilled labor jobs for them. The problem is matching employers with potential hires.
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Private institutions, such as Keiser University and other for-profits, also provide workforce training, as do many employers in-house and groups such as the Associated Builders and Contractors. Its Fort Lauderdale-based non-profit worker training institute will enroll more than 1,400 trainees this month in HVAC, high-voltage line erection, sheet metal, plumbing, electrical and fire sprinkler-fitter, says Eric Kennedy, vice president for education. “The nice thing about these programs is they affect our economy exponentially,” Kennedy says.
The trick for workforce training programs is reaching qualified students. Many of the best, who would have gravitated to a trade a generation ago, now head for college. The training programs have to convince them to try jobs that require hard labor, often outdoors, working at times at night and weekends and facing physical danger [“High Pay at a Price,” page 78].
Kennedy says 67% of Associated Builders and Contractors institute students are minorities, with the largest numbers Hispanic and Haitian. Most are immigrants. They don’t buy into the “negative cultural stereotype” associated with many of the jobs, Kennedy says.
Florida officials say the state, schools and parents haven’t done enough to focus middle school and high school students on skilled-labor job opportunities. “We have for years as a system and society said, ‘You’ve got to go to college. You’ve got to go to college.’ Not everyone is going to go to a Harvard or Notre Dame or even a Florida State,” says Luci Hadi, workforce education chancellor with the state Department of Education.
Business Beat - Week of May 3rd
