New England Colleges Prepare Report on Employability of Students; Draft Recommendations Outlined

December 22 is the deadline for those seeking to comment on the draft report and recommendations of the Commission on Higher Education & Employability, established earlier this year by the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE).  The Commission, which includes nine representatives of institutions and organizations in Connecticut, released its preliminary findings at a day-long Summit in Boston. “Despite the region’s strength in postsecondary institutions, employers remain concerned about a lack of qualified, skilled workers, particularly in technology-intensive and growth-oriented industries,” the draft report notes. “The Commission has proposed a draft action agenda, policy recommendations, strategies and next steps to align institutions, policymakers and industry behind increasing the career readiness of graduates of New England colleges and universities—and facilitate their transitions to work and sustained contributions to the well-being and competitiveness of the region.”

In addition to five strategic priorities,  the draft report includes specific recommendations are being considered in five areas:  Labor Market Data & Intelligence; Planning, Advising & Career Services; Higher Education-Industry Partnerships; Work-Integrated Learning; Digital Skills; and Emerging Credentials.

Among the recommendations being considered are a call for higher education institutions to incorporate employability into their strategic plans/priorities; determine their effectiveness in embedding and measuring employability across the institution; and develop a regional partnership for shared purchasing and contracting of labor market data, information and intelligence services.

The proposed recommendations also call on the New England states to “collaborate to launch multistate, industry-specific partnerships beginning with three of the top growth-oriented sectors, including: healthcare, life and biosciences and financial services.” It further urges the states to explore “implementing policies (public and institutional) that incentivize businesses (through tax credits or other means) to expand paid internships.”  The draft report also calls for the establishment of a New England Planning, Advising and Career Service Network.

The draft report calls on the states to “confront notable college-attainment gaps and the related personal and societal costs,” and “consider specific employability strategies to target and benefit students who are at risk of not completing postsecondary credentials, including underrepresented populations.”

Eastern Connecticut State University President Elsa Núñez led a session at the Summit about the Commission's “Equity Imperative.” Officials indicate that Commission's workforce vision serves all New Englanders ... “as a matter of social justice, but also as a matter of sound economics in the slow-growing region.”  Núñez highlighted her internship work with students who may not have cars or other resources to capitalize on off-campus work-integrated learning.

In addition to Núñez, the nine members of the Commission from Connecticut are:

• Andrea Comer, Vice President, Workforce Strategies, Connecticut Business & Industry Association Education and Workforce Partnership
• Freddy Cruz, Student, Eastern Connecticut State University
• Maura Dunn, Vice President of Human Resources & Administration, General Dynamics Electric Boat
• Mae Flexer, State Senator
• Tyler Mack, Student Government Association President, Eastern Connecticut State University
• Mark Ojakian, President, Connecticut State Colleges & Universities
• Jen Widness, President, Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges
• Jeffrey Wihbey, Interim Superintendent, Connecticut Technical High School System

The commission also includes six members from Vermont, seven members from New Hampshire and Maine, 11 from Massachusetts, 12 from Rhode Island, as well as two regional members and six representatives of NEBHE. The Commission's Chair is Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo.  The proposed recommendations, developed during the past six months, have broad implications, according to officials, “critical to building a foundation for moving forward the Commission's efforts toward strengthening the employability of New England's graduates.”

At Eastern Connecticut State University—which is about 30% students of color—lower-income, minority and first-generation students often had no cars, so had difficulty traveling off campus to internships. White students got most of the internships, President Elsa Núñez told the NEHBE Journal earlier this year.

The Journal reported that Eastern’s Work Hub eliminates that need, allowing students to develop practical skills doing real-time work assignments without having to travel off campus, and providing the insurance company Cigna with a computer network and facility where its staff could provide on-site guidance and support to Eastern student interns.

The draft report’s strategic priority recommendations include:

• New England state higher education systems, governing and coordinating boards, together with New England’s employers, should make increased employability of graduates a strategic priority—linked to the strategic plans, key outcomes, performance indicators and accountability measures for the higher education institutions under their stewardship.
• New England higher education institutions should incorporate employability into their strategic plans/ priorities supported by efforts to define, prioritize and embed employability across the institution and in multiple dimensions of learning and the student experience—both curricular and extracurricular.
• New England should make strategic efforts and investments—at the state, system and institution level— to expand research, data gathering, assessment capacity and longitudinal data systems to enable more effective understanding and documentation of key employability-related measures and outcomes.
• New England higher education institutions should undertake formal employability audits to review the strategic, operational and assessment-oriented activities related to employability–and their effectiveness in embedding and measuring employability across the institution.
• To confront notable college-attainment gaps and the related personal and societal costs, states must consider specific employability strategies to target and benefit students who are at risk of not completing postsecondary credentials, including underrepresented populations.

The Boston-based New England Board of Higher Education promotes greater educational opportunities and services for the residents of New England. Comments on the recommendations are accepted on-line through Dec. 22.

More CT Employers Expect Hiring to Increase for Remainder of Year; Hartford Region Lags State

Employers in Connecticut expect to hire at a modest pace during the fourth quarter of this year, which began on October 1, according to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey. From October to December, 18 percent of Connecticut companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 7 percent expect to reduce their payrolls. Another 73 percent expect to maintain their current workforce levels and 2 percent are not certain of their hiring plans. This yields a Net Employment Outlook of 11%, which is below the national outlook projection.

“Hiring intentions are stronger compared to Q3 2017 when the Net Employment Outlook was 8%,” said ManpowerGroup spokesperson Betty Gooding. “The hiring pace is expected to remain stable compared to one year ago when the Net Employment Outlook was 12%.”

For the coming quarter, job prospects in the state appear best in Construction, Durable Goods Manufacturing, Nondurable Goods Manufacturing, Wholesale & Retail Trade, Information, Financial Activities, Professional & Business Services, Education & Health Services, Leisure & Hospitality and Other Services. Employers in Government plan to reduce staffing levels, while hiring in Transportation & Utilities is expected to remain unchanged, the survey found.

In an analysis of the largest metropolitan regions in the nation, three in Connecticut brought differing projections, with one slightly higher and the others slightly lower than overall expectations statewide.

In the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk metropolitan statistical area (MSA), employers expect to hire at what is described as a “respectable pace” during this quarter, according to the Survey.  Twenty percent plan to hire more employees, which is offset by the 6 percent that plan to reduce payrolls, while 72 percent of employers expect to maintain current staff levels. Two percent indicate they are not sure of their hiring plans, which yields a Net Employment Outlook of 14% - higher than the expectation statewide.

In the New Haven-Milford MSA, 16 percent plan to hire more employees from October through December and 6 percent that plan to reduce payrolls. The Net Employment Outlook is 10%, just under the state outlook.  And in Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, 17 percent of employers plan to hire more employees, 8 percent that plan to reduce payrolls, while 70 percent expect to maintain current staff levels and 5 percent are not sure of their hiring plans. This yields a Net Employment Outlook of 9%.

Nationwide, of the more than 11,500 employers surveyed, 21 percent expect to add to their workforces, and 6 percent expect a decline in their payrolls during the final quarter of the calendar year. Seventy-one percent of employers anticipate making no change to staff levels, and the remaining 2 percent of employers are undecided about their hiring plans. When seasonal variations are removed from the data, the Net Employment Outlook is 17% nationwide.

This marks the 13th consecutive quarter with an Outlook of +15% or stronger, according to Manpower Group.  Compared with this time one year ago, hiring prospects are slightly stronger in the Northeast and remain relatively stable in the other three regions.  The Northeast Region includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.  Employers across all sectors report favorable hiring intentions, with those in durable goods manufacturing reporting the strongest intentions in the past 10 years.

For the final quarter of the year, employers in Delaware, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Oregon, South Carolina and Utah report the strongest Net Employment Outlooks. Among the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas, the strongest job prospects are expected in Cape Coral, Fla.; Oxnard, Calif.; Charlotte, N.C.; Stockton, Calif.; Deltona, Fla.; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Madison, Wis. and McAllen, Texas.  The Net Employment Outlook is derived by taking the percentage of employers anticipating an increase in hiring activity and subtracting from this the percentage of employers expecting a decrease in hiring activity, taking into account seasonal adjustments.

CT Employers Less Optimistic About Hiring in First Quarter

Employers nationwide are slightly more optimistic about hiring in the first quarter of 2017 than employers in Connecticut, according to the ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, although both expect to hire at a favorable pace during the first quarter of 2017. From January to March, 17 percent of Connecticut companies interviewed plan to hire more employees, while 7 percent expect to reduce their payrolls. Another 73 percent expect to maintain their current workforce levels and 3 percent are not certain of their hiring plans. This yields a Net Employment Outlook* of 10 percent.

For the coming quarter, job prospects appear best in Durable Goods Manufacturing, Nondurable Goods Manufacturing, Transportation & Utilities, Wholesale & Retail Trade, Financial Activities, Professional & Business Services, Education & Health Services, Leisure & Hospitality and Government. Employers in Construction, Information and Other Services plan to reduce staffing levels.

“Hiring intentions are weaker compared to Q4 2016 when the Net Employment Outlook was 12%,” said ManpowerGroup spokesperson Betty Gooding said about the Connecticut outlook. “The hiring pace is expected to pick up compared to one year ago when the Net Employment Outlook was 8%.” Of the more than 11,000 employers surveyed in the United States, 19 percent expect to add to their workforces, and 6 percent expect a decline in their payrolls during Quarter 1 2017. Seventy-three percent of employers anticipate making no change to staff levels, and the remaining 2 percent of employers are undecided about their hiring plans.

When seasonal variations are removed from the data, the Net Employment Outlook is +16 percent, a slight decrease compared to the Quarter 4 2016 Outlook, +18 percent.  That’s a somewhat more optimistic view than employers in Connecticut, the survey found.

Disparities Continue As Uneven Economic Recovery Challenges Children and Families; Changes Urged

Connecticut lost 85,358 jobs during the recession, which technically ended nearly seven years ago. The state has continued to hemorrhage manufacturing jobs, however, and industries dependable before the crash—particularly those in finance and health care—grew more slowly or not at all. According to a new report by Connecticut Voices for Children, 97.7 percent of Connecticut’s net job losses were in mid- or high-wage industries and 51 percent of the job losses occurred in the manufacturing and construction sectors, with another 15 percent of job losses occurring in retail trade.

The financial disparity in the state’s population is more stark than ever, the report said.  “Over the past thirty years, incomes for the bottom 99 percent grew by just 14.5 percent, while the incomes of the top 1 percent swelled by 290.8 percent. As a result of this lopsided growth—a period in which the top 1 percent captured 71.6 percent of all income—incomes of the top 1 percent are now 42.6 times greater than the bottom 99 percent.”

The report stresses that many Connecticut working families have been left out of the economic recovery. “As the share of low-wage jobs rises, so does the challenge of raising a family,” the report states. “The jobs created in low-wage sectors not only pay less, but often provide less flexibility, less predictability and fewer benefits than jobs past.”

In the report. Connecticut Voices for Children points out that the combination of an increase in the share of low-wage jobs, slow wage growth and persistently high unemployment for minorities and workers without a college education threaten the long term well-being of the state. Data highlighted points out that “black and Hispanic workers in Connecticut make median hourly wages that are, respectively, $7.25 and $8 less than white workers’—a gap that has widened since before the Great Recession.”

Among the recommendations:  raise the minimum wage.  Raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour would offer relief to 336,000 workers, the report points out, which would help those the state's recovery has left farthest behind. Breaking down the demographics, the research report indicated that 60 percent of benefitting workers would be women; 31.8 percent of all black workers and 37.5 percent of all Hispanic workers would benefit.

“Changes in the state economy pose challenges for low wage workers seeking to give their children the best possible start in life,” says Ellen Shemitz, Executive Director of Connecticut Voices for Children. “Higher unemployment and lower wages for workers of color exacerbate existing disparities in opportunity, with significant implications for both the competitiveness and fairness of our state’s economy.”

The report documents a long term shift in job and wage trends in Connecticut, with almost half of all jobs created since the start of the recovery in low-wage industries. Since 2001, the share of industries that typically pay low-wages has increased by 20 percent, while high-wage industry employment has decreased by 13 percent.

At the same time, unemployment has returned to pre-recession levels for white and college educated workers, but unemployment for workers of color and those without a college education have yet to recover.  Despite years of sustained job growth, these workers face unemployment rates that are three times higher than whites.

“Connecticut’s jobs swap has implications for individual family economic well-being and for the state’s overall revenue sufficiency,” explained Derek Thomas, Fiscal Policy Fellow at Connecticut Voices for Children and report co-author. “The first decade in the 21st-century – which includes the loss of manufacturing jobs in the early 2000s as well as the vast job losses during the Great Recession – has left the state with a sizeable high-wage jobs deficit.”

Among the reports’ key findings:

• Since 2010, unemployment has steadily declined for white and college educated workers, but not for workers of color and those without a college education. Unemployment for workers of color is nearly triple than for whites.
• Underemployment remains stubbornly high; the rate of part-time employees that would want to work full-time and workers that have given up on their job search in the past year is two times higher today that it was in 2007.
• Since 2001, the share of private-sector jobs in low-wage industries has increased by 20 percent, while the share of private-sector jobs in high-wage industries has decreased by 13 percent. Nearly half of new private sector jobs since 2010 are in low-wage industries.
• The median and bottom 10 percent of wage-earners have seen their wages decline by more than 2 percent since 2002, while the top 10 percent have experienced growth of more than 11 percent.
• Black workers’ median hourly wage is $8 lower than white workers and Hispanic workers’ median hourly wage is $7.25 lower than white workers.

Since the workplace is meeting fewer of the needs of children and families, Connecticut Voices for Children is urging state policy makers to take action to bridge the gap between wages and the growing cost of raising a family. The report recommends five key policy initiatives:

• Restore the earned income tax credit for low income workers to its original 2011 levels, allowing low wage workers to retain more of what they have earned
• Raise the minimum wage to $15, allowing low wage workers to cover their families’ basic needs
• Expand high-quality early childhood education to remove barriers to employment for parents and better prepare future generations of workers
• Strengthen infrastructure investments to ensure economic competitiveness and economy-boosting jobs
• Reform property taxes for a more equitable education system

Because workers of color are overrepresented in the low-wage industries that have driven the state’s job recovery, racial and ethnic wage gaps have widened. “The growth in low-wage industries is a double whammy for working families – not only do they pay less, but they also lack the benefits, predictability and flexibility of jobs past,” says Ray Noonan, Associate Fiscal Policy Fellow at Connecticut Voices for Children and report co-author.

Connecticut Voices for Children is a research-based policy think tank based in New Haven.  The organization’s mission is to promote the well-being of all of Connecticut's young people and their families by advocating for strategic public investments and wise public policies. To achieve these objectives, Connecticut Voices for Children produces “high quality research and analysis, promotes citizen education, advocates for policy change at the state and local level and works to develop the next generation of leaders.”

CT Ranks #15 in USA in Job Growth This Year

Connecticut’s job growth during the first four months of the year ranked fifteenth among the states, according to data compiled by Governing magazine.  Connecticut average employment between January 1 and April 30, 2015 increased by eight-tenths of one percent from the previous four-month period.  Average employment was 1,685,375, an increase of 13,500 from the four months ending 2014. Idaho recorded the largest percentage increase over the four-month period (+2.2 percent), followed by Utah (+1.8 percent). The other leading job growth states, by percentage, were Washington, Oregon, Michigan, South Carolina, Florida, Nevada, California, North Carolina, Arizona and Vermont.  In West Virginia, Louisiana and Maine, average monthly employment declined slightly.

Much of how state economies are performing is due to the individual sectors making up their employment base, Governing reported, as several industries experienced weak growth to start the year. Nationally, construction and manufacturing employment expanded little over the first four months, and government employment (local, state and federal), similarly remained essentially unchanged since January, the analysis pointed out.

Nationally, total state and local government employment peaked during the early stages of the recession in the summer of 2008, reaching about 19.8 million jobs. The U.S. Labor Department's most recent estimates indicate the sector remains about 630,000 jobs below this level.  By sector nationally, construction jobs led the way, with government jobs the slowest growing sector.

In April in Connecticut, according to the state Department of Labor (DOL), the private sector lost 300 (-0.02%) positions, although Connecticut private sector firms have increased employment by 21,300 (1.49%) jobs from a year ago, according to state data.  Four of the ten major industry supersectors added jobs in April and just three declined, according to DOL. Financial Activities, Other Services, and Information came in unchanged. Government(1,500, 0.6%) led all industry supersectors in April, with local government (1,400, 0.9%) entities providing the majority of the increase. Manufacturing (1,400, 0.9%) also posted a good-sized monthly increase in April with the durable goods components (1,200, 1.0%) being the strongest performer. The combined Construction and Mining (1,300, 2.4%) supersector experienced healthy April gains as well in a potentially good sign for the home building sector, the DOL analysis pointed out. Education and Health Services (200, 0.1%) showed a small gain, primarily driven by private educational services (400, 0.6%).

In a year-by-year comparison for the month of April, Connecticut (nonfarm) jobs have grown by a seasonally adjusted 9,100 in 2015, which compares to 11,000 in the first four months of 2014, 7,000 for the same timeframe in 2013, 5,000 for 2012, and 10,500 for 2011, according to DOL data.

Connecticut Ranks #13 in Workers Employed Here Who Live Elsewhere

The percentage of Connecticut workers who live outside the Constitution State is among the highest in the country, ranking 13th overall, at 6.4 percent.  Data from the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that Delaware has the largest percentage of workers who reside outside the state, at 14.8 percent. (The District of Columbia exceeds all the states, at 72.4 percent.)

In examining the top commuting flows from state of residence to workplace state, Connecticut ranks at #14, with 66,652 people traveling from their homes in Connecticut to work in New York.  The leading residence-to-workplace combination is New Jersey to New York, with 396,520 workers commuting from the Garden State to the Empire State for their jobs.  The other top pairs are Maryland to D.C., Virginia to D.C., New York to New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to New Jersey.

The Survey’s analysis points out that “information about commuting activity between two specific geographic areas helps define commuting patterns and provides a gauge of economic interconnectedness.”

The top 15 states, and the percentage of their workers who live outside the state’s borders, are:

1. D.C.                        72.4%
2. Delaware             14.8%
3. Rhode Island      12.8%
4. North Dakota     11.6%
5. New Hampshire 10.8%
6. West Virginia     10.0%
7. Maryland             9.1%
8. Kansas                  8.4%
9. Kentucky             7.8%
10. Missouri               7.4%
11. Vermont              7.1%
12. Virginia                 6.8%
13. Connecticut       6.4%
14. New York            6.4%
15. Massachusetts  6.3%

 The statistics in the survey, which was issued earlier this year, reflects 2011 data.  The report also noted that among U.S. workers who did not work at home, 8.1 percent had commutes of 60 minutes or longer.  New York had the highest rage of “long commutes” at 16.2 percent, followed by Maryland and New Jersey at 14.8 percent and 14.6, respectively.  In Connecticut, 6.4 percent of workers working in the state have a commute of 60 minutes or longer.

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide survey designed to provide communities with reliable and timely demographic, social, economic, and housing data for the nation, states, congressional districts, counties, places, and other localities every year. It had a 2011 sample size of about 3.3 million.

CT Leader in Jobs, Salaries in Community & Social Service Fields

If you’re interested in working in the community and social service fields, Connecticut is the place to be, according to the latest federal data.  Nationally, community and social service occupations had an annual mean wage of $43,830, which was just below the U.S. all-occupations mean wage of $45,230, according to data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the 2011 calendar year.   Out of the 17 occupations in the community and social service group, seven had a mean wage above the U. S. average and 10 had a mean wage below average. Connecticut, however, had among the highest levels in the nation. According to the federal agency, Connecticut had some of the highest annual average wages in the community and social services occupations, and a strong concentration of workers as well. The BLS reported recently that:

• Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford had the highest employment of any metropolitan area in Connecticut (2,370).   The area had the 14th-highest location quotient (2.00) out of all U.S. metropolitan areas and an annual average wage of $61,980. (Location quotients are useful for analyzing occupational employment while controlling for the size of the state. They are useful for comparing the composition of jobs in an area relative to the average or for finding areas that have high concentrations of jobs in certain occupations.)
• Waterbury, the metropolitan area with the highest location quotient (2.41) in Connecticut, had one of the highest average annual wages ($64,270) and employment of 330 for community and social service occupations.
• With an employment of 430 community and social service workers and a high location quotient (1.54), Norwich-New London had an annual average wage of $58,130, the lowest wage for this group out of the metropolitan areas in Connecticut, but still well above average.The Eastern non-metropolitan area had the second-highest annual average wage ($68,880) out of all U.S. non-metropolitan areas, the fourth-highest location quotient (2.63) out of all non-metropolitan areas, and an employment of 150 for community and social service occupations.

The state of Connecticut also has two non-metropolitan areas, Eastern and Northwestern.

• The Eastern non-metropolitan area had the second-highest annual average wage ($68,880) out of all U.S. non-metropolitan areas, the fourth-highest location quotient (2.63) out of all non-metropolitan areas, and an employment of 150 for community and social service occupations.

• The Northwestern non-metropolitan area had the third-highest annual average wage ($65,510) out of all non-metropolitan areas, the 21st-highest location quotient (1.84), and an employment of 140.

Nationally, some of the highest-paying occupations in the community and social service group were educational, guidance, school, and vocational counselors ($56,540); health educators ($52,150); and probation officers and correctional treatment specialists ($52,110). Two of the lowest-paying occupations, social and human service assistants ($30,710) and religious workers, all other ($31,600), had the highest (359,860) and lowest (7,660) employment, respectively, in the occupational group.