The Times of Trenton published the following article on 2/20/2014. To read the full article, click here.
NJ coalition of businesses, educators seeks to turn vocational schools into jobs pipeline
Stacy Jones / February 20, 2014
Vocational and technical schools could serve as a pipeline for New Jersey businesses if more companies stepped up as mentors and used their hiring needs to mold programs, according to a group of lawmakers, educators and employers gathered at the State House in Trenton yesterday. State Senate President Steve Sweeney, an ironworker, and Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto, a plumber who attended two New Jersey community colleges, joined the New Jersey Business & Industry Association and New Jersey Council of County Vocational-Technical Schools to lend their support to the New Jersey Employer Coalition for Technical Education. Its goal is to close the gap between what companies look for in new hires and the skills students acquire at technical schools.
The days of employers paying new hires to train on the job are rapidly fading, according to an ongoing study being conducted out of the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. The change has left many New Jersey companies, especially those in the tech industry, struggling to fill open positions.
The employer-educator coalition that kicked off yesterday will address the problem by drawing a clear connection between vocational programs and the companies that hire graduates. Both Sweeney and Prieto suggested that revamping vocational curriculums could put downward pressure on the state’s 7.3 percent unemployment rate.