Employers feel the impact of failing schools.
One St. Louis-based building contractor told CEAM he struggles to find employees with the basic math and reading skills to hire for his projects. Despite paying prevailing wages and working closely with apprenticeship programs, the small business owner says that many young adults who want to join the profession simply aren’t equipped without remediation.
In fact, a 2016 Gallup survey commissioned by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry found that only 15 % of Missouri business owners believe that Missouri high schools are preparing students for the workplace.
High-tech employers face similar workforce problems and at least one-fourth of the state’s high school graduates have to take remediation courses during the freshman year in college. Failure to produce college-ready students also means more student debt, a diversion of resources to remediation, and a delay in graduating from college and entering the workforce.
47 percent of all U.S. jobs are at risk of elimination in the next 10-20 years as a result of automation. Even more frightening, 83 percent of jobs paying less than $20 an hour are threatened, meaning that the poorest educated among us have the most to fear.
Please feel free to email Peter@ceamteam.org if you are interested in learning how your business or organization can help improve education in your community.