Young People Not Ready for Workplace

Another good one from The Conference Board.

As the baby boom generation slowly exits the U.S. workplace, a new survey of leaders from a consortium of business research organizations finds the incoming generation sorely lacking in much needed workplace skills-both basic academic and more advanced "applied" skills, according to a report released recently.

The report is based on an detailed survey of 431 human resource officials that was conducted in April and May 2006 by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management. Its objective was to examine employers' views on the readiness of new entrants to the U.S. workforce-recently hired graduates from high schools, two-year colleges or technical schools, and four-year colleges.

"The future workforce is here, and it is ill-prepared," concludes the report.

The findings reflect employers' growing frustrations over the preparedness of new entrants to the workforce. Employers expect young people to arrive with a core set of basic knowledge and the ability to apply their skills in the workplace - and the reality is not matching the expectation.

Smarter Approach to Sustainability, Says Canadian Conference Board

Economic growth and concern for the physical environment need to be integrated into a single concept of sustainability. This can be done by improving measurement and reducing overlap in provincial and federal environment regulations, the Conference Board argues in a new publication.

“Let’s recognize that economic growth cannot come at the expense of the physical environment,” said Glen Hodgson, Vice-President and Chief Economist. “Improved measures of sustainability will help us understand the relationship between growth and its impact on the environment.”

The briefing, Sustainability: A Winning Merger of Growth and the Environment, further argues that environmental regulatory processes in Canada are reasonably well-designed, but they are not functioning well. Approvals for new mills, mines, oil and gas developments, and electrical generation and transmission are based more on processes than scientific and environmental evidence. Thus, they take too long and are too cumbersome. Moreover, regulatory duplication among different levels of government makes approval processes complex and costly.

The briefing also outlines the concept of industrial ecology, in which cities would use resources more efficiently and produce less waste. The final report of the Conference Board’s Canada Project, Mission Possible: Sustainable Prosperity for Canada, will offer more detailed ideas on principles of sustainable economic growth when it is published in early 2007.

Canada Losing Ground, Says Candian Conference Board

Canada continues to slide down the ranks of the world's top economies and is a "chronic laggard in key areas, notably productivity and investment," according to the Conference Board of Canada's latest global report.

Dropping investment spending and sub-par productivity growth pulled Canada down to the No.12 spot from sixth place last year and third in 2003, the board said.

"Canada runs the risk of squandering its abundant endowments and opportunities," Conference Board CEO Anne Golden said in a release.

"Our report card shows that Canada's relative performance continues to slip, and other countries are not standing still."

Canada earned top 12 rankings in all six categories of the board's global survey, but lost ground in four, including a decline to 12th from sixth in the economy category.

"Even in areas such as health and society, where we believe that we have created a strong social fabric, our public record does not measure up to our international brand," Golden said.

Conference Board: Coping with Incompetence

The article — titled "Can We Turn Back the Rising Tide of Incompetence?" — is the cover story of the debut issue of The Conference Board Review, which recently changed its name from Across the Board. The independent bimonthly magazine is published by The Conference Board.

What do we mean when we say someone is an incompetent?" asks Matthew Budman, managing editor of The Conference Board Review. "One definition: An incompetent is someone who is defined by his mistakes. Everyone makes the occasional error or bad decision or lapse in judgment. Most of them go unnoticed. But at some point, failure becomes the norm and even that person's defining characteristic."

Are workers more incompetent today than in the past? In general, probably yes. Budman writes: "There's no reason to think that people today are fundamentally less capable than their parents or grandparents, but more is demanded of white-collar workers every day — less in terms of the sheer amount of work than of different types of work. The working world is increasingly complex, and many of us regularly take on more responsibility for more things."

This is the inevitable result of improved technology — for instance, powerful word-processing software on every PC — and of organizational delayering. Departments and business units have ever-broader scopes and mandates but fewer warm bodies, meaning that every time there's a new project or initiative or team, the necessary commitment of time and energy gets added to someone's already-long to-do list. Everyone is expected to do a bit of everything. "Plus, there's the issue of multitasking, which can turn almost anyone into a forgetful blunderer," Budman writes.

Read complete story here.

ED Futures Update, October 3, 2006

Dear ED Futures Reader:

Here is your latest update to ED Futures Web Journal

Enjoy and Happy Fall!

Don Iannone
Publisher
Email: dtia@don-iannone.com
Tel: 440.449.0753

NE Ohio's Entrepreneurial Climate

The Center for Economic Development (CED) at Cleveland State University's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs and JumpStart Inc. released a new report that summarizes the findings of a survey conducted from April 26 to June 2, 2006. CED researchers Ziona Austrian, Ph.D., Director, and Jill Taylor, Program Manager, led the effort with JumpStart providing the promotional and technical support to execute the survey.

The objective of the survey was to assess the entrepreneurial climate and entrepreneurs' confidence in their ability to start and sustain a business in Northeast Ohio.

Get the report here and an interesting literature review here.

World Economic Forum Report Out

Click here to download the latest report.

Lots of useful nation-level comparative data and rankings. Increasingly, this type information is becoming important to economic developers.

San Diego's Martial Metropolis

As San Diego military presence grew throughout the decades, so too did its economic dependence on defense budgets, a position that allowed the armed forces to exercise mounting influence over the city's growth, politics and civic identity.

That relationship branded San Diego as a "martial metropolis" -- a personality it continues to carry today -- and the military's financial impact helped germinate a burgeoning West Coast city. As such, it became a major city devoid of the traditional pains of urbanization -- the pollution of heavy industry, dense housing, and labor struggles -- that others had to bear.

But a significant identity crisis has literally been lurking on the city's front porch as the extent of San Diego's relationship with the military is tested by two important projects that will shape the city's identity and growth. San Diego has lacked the marks of other urban giants -- an international airport and a symbolic waterfront -- and the city's leaders are standing by as the military dictates the decisions over both points.

Read more here.