Is our nations skills gap slowly killing this country?

This nations skills gap has done nothing but increase, how can we fix that?

The internet is over-polluted with articles that rank the United State’s top colleges, the return on investment for attending those colleges, and countless other articles regarding the benefits of an undergraduate education. Recently, there has been a movement to bring the top trade/technical schools, and top trade jobs into the headlines. This movement was initially brought into the spotlight by television personality, Mike Rowe. Mike Rowe is the host of the television show Dirty Jobs, and Somebody’s Gotta Do It. He is also a narrator for countless shows, and has a very popular podcast. On a side note, he is also a former opera singer.

According to Diane Swonk, a chief economist at Grant Thorton,

This skills gap is a major issue, but how can we fix it? It’s funny, this seems like a tough question, but in reality the first step to solving is easy. We need to stop pushing every student in America to attend college and get an undergraduate degree. Obviously this will not fully solve the problem, but it is a major step to reducing the skills gap within our population.

There are more jobs available in the technical world right now, that can pay just as well, if not pay more than those jobs students will get after receiving a 4 year degree. Not to mention these jobs will not require students to incur thousands upon thousands of dollars in government loans that quite frankly, our country doesn’t have to loan out. While attending trade schools, you get the opportunity to earn while you learn rather than paying thousands to learn. Due to earning while you learn, you do not have the need to take out nearly as many loans, if any loans to finish these programs.

There are so many options out there for students graduating high school that are not made apparent to those students. Most everyone out there can collectively agree that they were pushed to attend a four-year university and receive an undergraduate degree. We’ve all heard someone say, if you get a college degree you will make a pile of money and be very successful, and if you do not attend a university, you will not be successful. This is not the case anymore. With millions of people jumping straight to a secondary education at a university, the skills gap is only getting larger because there is no one to replace the individuals retiring within skilled jobs, and the countless new openings within those fields due to the expanding economy. If we want to solve this problem, we NEED to start realizing that the opportunities that become available for you within technical fields of study are just as important as those within a typical 4-year degree program.

In order for us to fix this outstanding problem of a skills gap, we need to start encouraging our youth to pursue careers in the trade and technical fields.

Overall, there is no collective answer to the question of “What do I want to do with my life?”, the answer to this differs from each and every individual. I’m not saying that we should swap technical jobs out for four-year degrees, undergraduate degrees offer so many quality opportunities that are unmatched. Although those opportunities are great for some, technical schools and trade schools also offer opportunities that are unmatched by universities that are a better fit for others. Neither will guarantee you a job, but we will ALWAYS need nurses, electricians, plumbers, mechanics, and many other skilled jobs to build this country and move forward as a population. If we can decrease this growing skills gap, we can build a stronger country that can change the world one step at a time.

Maybe you have a hidden passion that can turn into a job, what are some skills that you wish you knew, or would love to learn? Leave a comment below!

Related posts:

This article is a step by step guide to restore EC2 instance from Snapshot with detailed steps.

The last time I told us about who a buyer persona was and why it is important for a marketer to define one. In business / brand marketing one of the things that is quite vital is the content as you…