Make Education a Lifelong Endeavor

Make Education(ˌejəˈkāSHən) a Lifelong Endeavor(enˈdevər)

Too many workers lack the skills employers(emˈploi-ər) demand(diˈmand). Here’s how to help.

By The Editors of Bloomberg Businessweek

The world’s rich countries face a looming(lo͞om) challenge(ˈCHalənj) in education: Too many of their citizens lack the skills and credentials(krəˈdenCHəl) needed for the jobs of the future. To keep people productively engaged(enˈgājd) in work in the coming decades, and to ensure that economies(iˈkänəmē) maintain(mānˈtān) robust growth, governments, educators and employers will need to make lasting investments in a new class of students: adults.

The trouble(ˈtrəbəl) for now is largely demographic(ˌdeməˈgrafik). Although a growing share of people between the ages of 18 and 24 is going to college, the total population of young adults is shrinking(SHriNGk) in the U.S. and Europe. So total college enrollment(enˈrōlmənt) is largely in decline(diˈklīn). Meanwhile(ˈmēnˌ(h)wīl), the population of older workers keeps growing. In the U.S., by the middle of the next decade, nearly one-quarter(ˈkwôrtər) of the workforce will be over 55. And many adults lack the post-high-school education and training that employers increasingly(iNG-,inˈkrēsiNGlē) demand.

A majority(-ˈjär-,məˈjôrətē) of new jobs created in the U.S. since 2010 have required workers to have medium(ˈmēdēəm) to advanced digital(ˈdijitl) skills. Over the next decade, the percentage of jobs worldwide requiring a college degree or higher will continue to increase, according to a McKinsey Global Institute analysis(əˈnaləsis).

So efforts are needed to bring adult workers into the classroom – or, in many cases, back to the classroom. Some 17 percent of Americans over 25 – 36 million adults – have some college education but no credential to show for it. Today, if all U.S. “near-completers(kəmˈplēt)” finished at least an associate’s(əˈsoʊsiˌeɪt,əˈsoʊʃiˌeɪt) degree, incomes would rise by $112 billion, according to the American Council(ˈkounsəl) on Education.

…
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-04-23/adult-education-is-crucial-to-addressing-workers-skills-gap