By Pete Carlson (President of Regional Growth Strategies)

A new skill development system is beginning in regions across the US. Its defining feature is demand-driven – that is, it focuses on getting the right workers with the right skills to the right place at the right time. This new system has enormous potential to support job growth and expand opportunities for a broad workforce. However, I’ve noticed that this new system mainly focuses on filling existing jobs rather than supporting the growth of new jobs. Why is that?

One reason is that existing jobs are much easier to find and fill. To begin with, there are more of them. Currently, two out of three job openings are for existing jobs, primarily due to the retirement of baby boomers. Also, it’s easier to forecast openings for existing jobs since retirements are more accessible to predict than breakthroughs in products, processes, or markets responsible for most new jobs.

See the full blog post here: http://regionalgrowth.com/blog/skills-for-growth-beyond-the-low-hanging-fruit/