New job market presents challenges for students and colleges alike

New job market presents challenges for students and colleges alike


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

With the nation still recovering from the Great Recession — a time when unemployment across the U.S. soared to 10 percent in October 2009 — the job market may be facing a new, unique challenge: a shortage of skilled workers.

In fact, the current national unemployment rate of 6.2 percent (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) may be misleading because it does not account for American workers dropping out of the labor force because of dismal job opportunities.

According to a Harvard University study, by 2018, 57 percent of America's jobs will require skilled workers while 33 percent will require a four-year degree or higher, and just 10 percent will be available for unskilled workers.

Part of this phenomenon may be due in part to the "college for all" mentality in U.S. homes and high schools. In the past few decades, high schools have shifted from preparing students for trades and vocational school and focused on readying them for university educations.

New job market presents challenges for students and colleges alike
Photo: Shutterstock

While a four-year or graduate degree may be a noble ambition, the more students who achieve these degrees are in turn intensifying the mismatch of potential employees' skills to the demands of the job market.

This widening gap will present interesting opportunities for educators and students in the coming years. Now, more than ever, certificates and two-year degrees are presenting graduates with a wealth of employment options.

And some colleges are beginning to take note of the evolving job market. LDS Business College, for example, has prepared students with certificates and degrees in skilled trades since 1950.

Now, as market demands shift, the college has refined its course offerings to those in highest demand. These include network engineering, database engineering, computer programming, server administration and social media marketing. Something you might see in traditional universities soon.

Keeping an ear to the beat of the current market is an important part of preparing students to be successful in those careers that are most widely needed. The college is also showing that the face of the "skilled laborer" has changed dramatically over the course of the last several decades.

While traditional skilled occupations — like electrical repair, machinery maintenance and welding — are still in high demand, other exciting trades have burgeoned in recent years. These include careers in the business, legal, medical, design and technology fields.

As the face of U.S. employment continues to evolve, becoming successful means that U.S. students — and the colleges they attend — will need to evolve with it.

To find out more about educational opportunities as LDS Business College visit their website at ldsbc.edu.

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

BrandviewUtah
LDS Business College

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast