Oswego Literacy Summit

April 26, 2010

Oswego Employer Workforce Literacy Summit

John Twomey, NYATEP

What We’ll Talk About Today

• There are a million good reasons why good literacy and numeracy skills are important to individuals, their families, the community, and the country

• Certainly if “financial literacy” was more widespread then we would have had fewer people taking some exotic mortgages that hurt them as values plunged

• But that’s not what we’re talking about today…• We’re talking about the importance of a highly

literate workforce in this 21st Century economy

My Premise

• Good Literacy and Numeracy Skills are absolutely essential to earning a middle class living in the 21st Century.

• Adult Basic Education can no longer operate separately from occupational training.

• When WIA is reauthorized, Title I and Title II will be much closer aligned.

• Here’s why…..3

Some statistics from….

5Ed Gordon, Futurist

When It All Changed Employment Gains by Education: 1992-2002

National Statistics

-1.00

0.00

1.00

2.00

3.00

4.00

5.00

6.00

7.00Less than HighSchool--(-.4M jobs)High School -- +.1jobsSome College-- +2.4 M jobs2 Year Academic--+2.2 M jobs2 year Technical--+2.6 M jobs4 Year Degree-- +6.4 M jobs

Employment Policy Foundation tabulation of BLS Statistics

Travels with John

• The airport• The car rental counter• The toll booth• The hotel• The gas station• Kinko’s• Penn Station

• Three days, millions of jobs lost to technological replacement. So what does this mean for workforce development in the US, your State, your institution ?

Earnings Gain HSDO to GED/HSD

Earnings Gains HSD to Associate’s

Earnings Gains HSD to B.A.

Working Age Adults HSDO

Adults Aged 25 – 64 HSG only

Adults Aged 25 – 64 HSG only

Job Openings by Skill Level

US Unemployment Rate

Vacant Jobs 2009

Reach Higher America

  Language Challenge

Credential Challenge

LiteracyNumeracyChallenge

Post-SecEducationChallenge

Total

Number of U.S. Adults(18 – 64)

6,466,383

23,247,930

34,288,383

23,997,303

88,000,000

Percent ofTotal U.S.Adults(18 – 64)153 Million

4.7% 

17.0% 

20.1% 

15.7% 

57.5%

NAEP

National Assessment of Adult Literacy Skills

• 14% of United States working age people are in NAALS level 5 status

• NAALS Level 5 – can’t balance a checkbook, either totally illiterate or maybe can read a sentence

• New York State NAALS Level 5 percentage is 22%

• New York is 49th of 50 states (Vt= 7%, Mass= 10%, Ct= 9%, NJ= 17%, Pa= 13%)

• Oswego NAALS Level 5 is 12% http://www.nces.ed.gov/naal/estimates/StateEstimates.aspx

• 30 counties in New York are below Oswego’s 12%

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Opportunities

• President Obama called the investment in community colleges crucial because "jobs requiring at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience" in coming years. "We will not fill those jobs, or keep those jobs on our shores, without the training offered by community colleges," he said. – CNN 7/14/09

• Rahm Emmanuel “We must make a college degree as universal as a high school diploma. More than ever, America's success depends on what we can learn. In this new era, college will be the greatest engine of opportunity for our society and our economy.”

• Council of Economic Advisors “Occupations requiring higher educational attainment are projected to grow much faster than those with lower educational requirements, with the fastest growth among occupations that require an associate’s degree or a post-secondary vocational award.”

Challenges

• From 1963 to 2005 enrollment at two-year colleges has increased over 600 percent, eclipsing the increase in four-year enrollment which was only 200 percent, (BUT)…..

• Completion- Six years after students began their postsecondary education, 62 percent of adult “employees who study”—working learners who put their work before their studies, or in economic parlance have a high labor market had not completed a degree or certificate and were no longer enrolled, while 37 percent had achieved a degree or certificate.

• WHY?? Many have rusty basic skills and struggle academically. They work in low-paying jobs and lack resources to invest in education.

• They lack good information about labor market opportunities and become frustrated at what their education is getting them.

From Working LearnersWorking Learners, , Louis Soares, CAP 2009

WIA Funding

ProgramProgram

Year New York State

Allocations2000 304,953,605$ 2001 257,333,620$ 2002 217,667,870$ 2003 216,044,909$ 2004 223,356,562$ 2005 234,418,297$ 2006 197,433,309$ 2007 190,776,050$ 2008 159,224,210$

Difference 2000-2008

(145,729,395)$

% Difference 2000-2008

-47.79%

WIA

A A

dult,

Dis

locate

d

Work

er

and Y

outh

WIA FundingProgram Years 2000 to 2008New York State Allocations

Theory vs. Fiscal Reality

Program FY09 Enacted FY2010House Labor H

FY2010 Senate Labor H

WIA Adult $861,540,000 $861,540,000 $861,540,000

WIA Dislocated $1,183,840,000 $1,183,840,000 $1,183,840,000

WIA Youth $924,069,000 $924,069,000 $924,069,000

Employment Service

$703,576,000 $703,576,000 $703,576,000

Perkins VATEA $1,271,694,000 $1,271,694,000 $1,271,694,000

Adult Basic and Literacy Education

$567,468,000 $639,567,000 $641,567,000

GEDs awarded per 1,000

Enrollment in ABE per 1,000 dropouts

Affordability

Affordability

Affordability

Affordability

ESL per 1,000 Adults

The Demand Side

Next Steps – Your Call

• After I’m done here today I get to go home• You guys have the hard work to do • If this group doesn’t aggressively raise the alarm on this

issue, who will ?

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For More Information

• Contact John Twomey at 518 433 1200 x2

or

jtwomey@nyatep.org

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