Career and Technical Education

I was glad to hear this week that Texas Comptroller Susan Combs is making $5 million in scholarship money available for career and technical education (Career and Technical Scholarship Fund). Spend a few minutes with folks like Mike Midgley at Austin Community College or Michael Bettersworth at Texas State Technical College and you’ll quickly understand why CTE needs more attention. It’s a vital part of what makes states and regions economically competitive. CTE is also a pathway to higher wage jobs and better standards of living for thousands of people—young and not so young—each year. Corporate relocations and expansions may get the headlines and the glory in this profession, but workforce competitiveness is the real story that separates leading regions from the rest of the pack.

We got new 2009Q3 data on industries and occupations this week from one of our providers, EMSI. I’ll let the numbers do the rest of the talking about the importance of CTE:

· 71 percent of jobs in the Austin-Round Rock region require, on average, less than a bachelor’s degree.
· 70 percent of net new jobs expected between 2009 and 2019 will require less than a bachelor’s degree.
· Jobs requiring on-the-job training only (i.e. no postsecondary degree of any kind) pay an average of $15.11 per hour. Jobs requiring an associate’s degree pay an average of $22.31 per hour.
· Registered nurse is the fastest growing occupation in Austin-Round Rock requiring an associate’s degree. EMSI’s economists predict that we’ll see a net gain of approximately 3,200 registered nurse jobs by 2019. Add in turnover and retirements and that number grows to 4,700.
· Many of the jobs that contribute to Austin-Round Rock’s competitive advantage in specialized workforce require less than a bachelor’s degree. Examples include Electronic Engineering Techs ($21.15 per hour), Semiconductor Processors ($17.71), Industrial Engineering Techs ($23.24), and Environmental Science and Protection Techs ($22.03).
· 61 percent of net new green jobs expected between 2009 and 2019 will require less than a bachelor’s degree.

Finally, I sat through a pretty good training on Career Clusters (Achieve Texas) at our statewide COG meeting last week. For those of you working in the secondary school system, or the parents among you with children in K-12, we have some helpful information for you, too. Go check out the list of Career Clusters and Career Pathways on the Achieve Texas website and then come back to this email. Here’s a list of the 16 Career Clusters ranked by expected annual job openings in Austin-Round Rock between 2009 and 2019:

1. Business, Management, and Administration
2. Marketing, Sales, and Service
3. Hospitality and Tourism
4. Transportation, Distribution, and Logistics
5. Human Services
6. Health Science
7. Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources
8. Finance
9. Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)
10. Architecture and Construction
11. Education and Training
12. Arts, A/V Technology, and Communications
13. Government and Public Administration
14. Information Technology
15. Law, Public Safety, Corrections, and Security
16. Manufacturing

Brian Kelsey