The December/January edition of Community College Journal concentrates on this conundrum: high unemployment in the United States despite an estimated three million job vacancies per month. Why are those jobs not being filled? It’s the so-called “skills mismatch,” what happens when people in the labor pool lack the skills to do what the market demands.
This edition of the Journal, a bimonthly publication of the American Association of Community Colleges, focuses on the need for a more skilled workforce, and it points to community colleges as the driving force to meet those needs.
According to Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, there are 10 million middle-skill jobs with a starting salary of $50,000 or more a year. Middle-skill jobs are those that don’t require a bachelor’s degree. In fact, a significant number of jobs pay more than entry-level jobs requiring a bachelor’s degree.
Southeast Community College fills that need in southeast Nebraska. With more than 50 programs of study in numerous career fields, SCC is poised to help bridge the skills gap. Statistics tell a success story at SCC:
- 94 percent job placement/continuing education rate;
- 76 percent student success rate, ranking SCC No. 8 in the U.S. in that category;
- 91 percent of 2011-2012 SCC graduates found work in Nebraska;
- No. 1 in the U.S. eight consecutive years in the number of graduates in precision production career fields; and
- Ranked in the top 10 percent of all community colleges in the U.S., approximately 1,200.
Furthermore, employers as a whole present many more job opportunities to SCC graduates than there are students available. While SCC does not guarantee any graduate a job, students who possess the skills necessary to gain employment are generally rewarded for their efforts.
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For more information contact:
Stu Osterthun
Administrative Director of Public Information and Marketing
402-323-3401