[nfbmi-talk] michigan job market

[joe harcz Comcast]

Here is a story about the Michigan job market. Now the questions are:

 

How are we and others ensuring that people who are blind can engage in these programs and occupations?

 

What is being done to encourage blind folks here to engage in appropriate training?

 

What is being done to destroy the stereotype that blind folks cannot do these jobs?

 

What is being done to make training accessable to us?

 

Lots of questions.

 

Don’t let blindness hold you back. Realize your dreams.

 

Joe

 

What will the future of Michigan's job market look like? 

The healthiest part of Michigan's future job market appears to be in health. Nurses, medical secretaries,

dental hygienists, paramedics and lab technicians top the list of oc'cup'ations expected to grow in coming years in Michigan. Other technical jobs, especially

in robotics and advanced manufacturing, also will be in demand, according to data compiled by Economic Modeling Specialists for USA TODAY. These jobs,

which require education beyond high school but not necessarily a bachelor's degree, once formed the backbone of the middle class. They typically pay between

$30,000 and $80,000 a year, not counting overtime. Overall, Metro Detroit ranked dead last of 125 metro areas in the study in projected growth of these

so-called middle-skill jobs. Economic Modeling Specialists predicts the state could lose as many as 20,000 middle-skill jobs in coming years. There has

been a surge in hiring lately due to the rebounding auto industry, and the future employment picture could change dramatically with more tech jobs added

if billionaire Dan Gilbert and other investors succeed in turning greater downtown Detroit into a tech start-up home in the entrepreneurial image of Silicon

Valley. "We are seeing across the board demand (for middle skills jobs) in Metro Detroit," said Amy Cell, senior vice president of talent enhancement for

the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. "We are projecting growth across the board in manufacturing. We're seeing a lot more with exporting and

new startups. Cell acknowledges that Michigan needs a workforce with skills that are in demand if it hopes to compete for jobs with other states and countries.

Computer programmers currently hold the most coveted status, especially those who write code for mobile applications, Cell said. Promising students at

Michigan universities are wooed with summer internships offered by tech companies that often have them to sign six-figure employment contracts before graduation,

Cell said. "The coasts are snapping up these people when they are juniors," Cell said. "A Michigan company that doesn't have an aggressive pipeline development

doesn't have a shot at these kids. But while those job seekers typically come from four-year universities and colleges, many other students and employers

have found better fits in community colleges, two-year programs that typically award associate degrees. Wayne County Community College in Detroit offers

a variety of medical field programs and applications have outpaced openings for years, said Jo Ann Allen Nyquist, who runs the school's dental hygienist

program. Students take a year and a half of prerequisite courses then enroll in the two-year dental hygiene program to earn an associate's degree in applied

science. They must pass board certification tests to earn a license. Wayne County Community College District dental hygiene student Kamaria Burke of Detroit

works on periodontal probing of Guy Smith of Detroit. The community college program can cost $25,000, compared with programs run by four-year universities

that can cost three times that much. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press) In addition to classroom work, students learn by working on patients in a

clinic the college operates to provide dental care to residents around its campus in northwest Detroit. "We're not only an educational setting, we're a

community setting," Nyquist said. The program draws a lot of interest in part because dental hygienists can earn $30 per hour or more, Nyquist said. The

community college program can cost as little as $25,000, compared with programs run by four-year universities that can cost three times that much, Nyquist

said. Cost "was definitely a factor," said Aisia Austin, 22, of South Rockwood, who is scheduled to graduate from the program next year. Austin said she

was always interested in dentistry and chose the program because it offered hope to land a good job. "I definitely looked up how much they make and how

much it's growing," she said. Nyquist noted that hygienists learn a variety of skills including checking vital signs, taking X-rays and examining for mouth

diseases. There were about 4,200 dental hygienists in Metro Detroit in 2013, according to Economic Modeling Specialists and about 18% of them are older

than 55 and approaching retirement. Nyquist said most of her students get connected to local dentists, often as dental assistants, and typically have jobs

waiting for them once they are licensed. Melissa Jackson, 22, of Brownstown Township, a Detroit suburb, started eyeing her career through a vocational

program offered at Woodhaven High School, where she graduated in 2010. In high school, she learned things like the numbering of teeth, but also the human

side of the business. "I always wanted to be that person who made the child or the scared adult feel comfortable," she said. Jackson expects to complete

the program next summer and take her board exams in July 2015. Wayne County Community College District Dental Hygiene student Melissa Jackson poses for

a portrait at the Health Science Center building on the Northwest Campus in Detroit. (Photo: Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press) Despite retrenchment in the

auto industry, manufacturing continues to offer good paying job opportunities, Cell said. She pointed to the Michigan Advanced Technician Training program

as an example of government and industry working together to create a skilled workforce. It's a modern version of trade school and is modeled after programs

in Germany, which has long used apprenticeships to prepare workers to fill technical jobs. Students enroll in a three-year training program to study mechatronics,

information technology and advance product design at a community college. They alternate eight-week blocks of classroom study with on-the-job training.

Employers like Volkswagen, Detroit Diesel and BorgWarner pay the tuition and a salary to the students as they progress through the program. Students graduate

with an associate's degree and a job waiting for them. Cell said that with rapidly changing technology, educators are trying to hit a moving target as

they prepare tomorrow's workers. But math, science and technology are never out of style. "There are certain things where you can't go wrong," she said.

"Career camps, science technology, you cannot go wrong. There are things that you can do that are going to have an impact. Mark Alyea, president emeritus

of Alro Steel Corp. in Jackson, about 80 miles west of Detroit, said his steel company recognized a disconnect several years ago when manufacturing customers

in the area complained that a lack of skilled workers was limiting their growth. He said the local schools, the community college and employers were all

doing things to address the need, but the efforts weren't coordinated. "That's one of the reasons we haven't been able to increase our per capita income

in Michigan," said Alyea. "We can't fill these good paying middle jobs. He said many manufacturers near him like the state's advanced technician training

program, but they wanted to see something started earlier. "We didn't like waiting until 13th, 14th, 15th year," he said. What's more, many of the vocational

educational opportunities in local high schools were going to problem students dumped into the program by principals "who just wanted them the hell out

of their high schools," Alyea said. "We don't want to waste those spots. In September, area employers joined with local high schools and Jackson College

to launch the Jackson Area College and Career Connection, a new program that connects 11th-grade students with manufacturing companies for job interviews.

Students accepted into the program begin studying for a manufacturing track that teaches them to read blueprints, operate advanced machinery, use computer

design software and troubleshoot manufacturing processes. The employer pays half the tuition ? about $6,000 over three years ? and the local school district

pays the other half. Co-op work begins in 11th grade and grows each year. Students graduate from high school and spend their 13th year completing an associate's

degree, studying at a career center. When they are done, they have full-time jobs waiting for them, many of them paying between $25 and $45 an hour. "They're

basically a junior journeyman," Alyea said. Paul Borener,17, of Spring Arbor was already enrolled in a precision machining program offered through his

high school when he learned about this new program. "With the middle college, I have been given the opportunity to do something I love and get college

credit while I do it," he said. Borener said his father and grandfather were both machinists and he's been interested in it since he was child. He will

graduate high school with his class in the spring and then continue at the career center for a 13th year. The program normally begins in 11th grade and

allows students to earn an associate's degree in applied science. Because Borener is joining it as a senior, he will earn a certificate, though he may

take additional college courses on his own time to qualify for the associates degree. Alyea said the program aims to change perceptions about manufacturing

jobs. He tells students that many jobs in law, finance and advertising exist to support manufactured products. "The manufacturing food chain has been severely

impaired because the plankton has been poisoned," Alyea said. "They've been convinced that they are losers, or they have to go to college, even if they

don't know what they want to do. These are good jobs. Contact John Wisely: 313-222-6825 or jwisely at freepress.com Where to go to seek Middle skill jobs?

Pure Michigan Talent Connect is a state effort to connect job seekers with open jobs. Local community colleges offer a variety of programs to obtain skills

needed in the job market today. 

 

 

Source:

Detroit Free Press

Oct. 1, 2014