Boomers & Tomorrow's Workforce

If, when you were a kid, you came home from school and....

• ran outside to play with your neighborhood friends, you're one of 78 million Baby Boomers
• put clothes in the dryer and the meatloaf in the oven, fed the cat and babysat your younger brother, you're one of 47 million generation Xers
• went to soccer practice, gymnastics, karate or dance class, reaching home by 7PM to finally do homework, you're one of 73.5 million generation Y or Millennials

All these youngsters in school from different eras, with different childhood experiences, have one thing in common today---they're in your workforce and they have disparate skill levels.

The Baby Boomers are approaching retirement in vast numbers, leaving the next generation short on management abilities and skills in the trades, and Millennials are just beginning to enter the workforce.

In our global economy, employers cite foreign-language skills as only a 63 percent priority compared to critical thinking skills to do basic research or to think on their own.

Community leaders mistakenly believe it is the responsibility of the educators to deliver workers ready to work, and without people to teach and funds to support education, it ain't gonna happen.

Source: Emilie Stawiarski, Workforce Readiness Director, Michigan Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), workforcereadiness@mishrm.org