Wisconsin hit record employment in May according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics underlining the importance of workforce development efforts in the state and in northeastern Wisconsin.
Young workers are a critical part of the solution according to officials who presented a Winning with Wisconsin Workforce event June 20 in Menasha.
“We already know that we don’t have enough workers to replace all of the Baby Boomers,” said Bobbi Miller, business services manager at Fox Valley Workforce Development Board, Inc.
“If you haven’t started working with youth, you need to really do that.”
Jennifer Sereno, assistant deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development said that despite high labor force participation rates Wisconsin currently has two open jobs for every worker.
After painting a bleak picture, Sereno explained that the Winning with Wisconsin Workforce events are providing strategies for growing and retaining the workforce.
A focus on youth through apprenticeships, career training and career exploration engages them in the workforce and a career that helps retain them as members of the community, Sereno said. Wisconsin has had record numbers of apprenticeships in the past year as businesses recognize the value of growing their workforce through youth training.
Participants at the event also heard from Lea Keesler of Forward Service Corporation who described the services the organization provides to help youth stay on track with their education and prepare them for careers. Keesler focused on the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act programs which target youth ages 16-24.
Resources include career assessments, tutoring, financial literacy training, work experiences, post secondary preparation, support for educational fees and more. The work experiences are tailored to individual needs and could be job shadowing, pre-apprenticeship or apprenticeship programs, short-term employment, internships and more.
Keesler said Forward is looking for industry partners especially in culinary, law enforcement, hospitality, health care, criminal justice and business settings.
One tool that has produced results are virtual reality goggles that use career exploration simulations provided by Transfr. Keesler provided an example of a young woman who wanted a career in health care, but after using the goggles realized the best fit for her in the industry was anesthesiology.
The goggles were demonstrated by Ryan Leonhardt of Transfr who said the company initially provided career training in foundational skills such as measuring or monitoring but now includes career exploration. The exploratory programs guide users through tasks they might perform in a particular career.
Leonhardt said it helps users understand not just what a particular job might involve, in some cases it helps them realize they have a skill or interest that could lead to a rewarding job.
Paul Endtr of Appleton Technical Academy wore the goggles for the demonstration and was wowed by the experience. He said it would be great to have the tool for his students.
He said high school students are an untapped market for the workforce. “There are a lot of things we can do to target high school students specifically,” Endtr said, adding “I didn’t know about any of this before I got here today.”
