ANDERSON – Indiana has outlined a five-step program to close the gap between those residents with required job skills and those lacking in the demands for future employment.
Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann was the featured speaker at the Madison County Chamber of Commerce Wake Up Breakfast on Thursday at St. Vincent Anderson Regional Hospital.
She said 55 percent of the jobs require secondary education and in Indiana only five percent of students complete a two-year degree program on time. Ellspermann said only 34 percent of Hoosiers have completed post-secondary education.
“There are 675,000 people that need additional education,” Ellspermann said. “Indiana ranks 39th in the country in per capita income and 44th for residents with a college degree.”
Ellspermann said the goal is to increase the number of residents who have completed post-secondary education to 60 percent by 2025.
She noted that Gov. Mike Pence has created the Indiana Career Council to develop a strategy for the state to determine the current and future education and training needs for job requirements.
“We want to insure the state is competitive in the future,” Ellspermann said, pointing out that the Indiana Works Councils are focusing on the needs of specific regions in the state.
Ellspermann said the council will address the needs of employers and how to add those skills to school curriculum, as well as identifying existing innovative curricula in the state and regions.
The lieutenant governor explained that the Pence administration is looking to connect education and workforce training to match the needs of employers.
“We used to try to guess what skills were needed,” she said. “We want to plan for those future needs.”