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State Faces Changing Job Market, Analyst Says Workforce will need better skills By Jack McMillan Staff Writer
The Daily Herald Volume 103, No. 191 /
Futurist Ed Barlow brought a simple message to an audience gathered in Columbia State's Cherry Theater - the future is now, and Tennessee had better get ready for it. "Some people make things happen, some people let things happen and some people say, 'What happened?'" he told members of the eight-county South Central Tennessee Workforce Investment Board. Barlow explained Friday morning how rapidly changing technology, demographics and politics will shape the global economy. If communities want to attract industry in the future, he said, they have to compete globally. "The future isn't bad, it's just different," he said, "but we are in continual change that is getting faster." Barlow said many low-skilled jobs will simply disappear to be replaced by better paying high-skilled jobs - but only for communities prepared to offer a properly trained workforce. "Look at the jobs that are here and see how many are sustainable," he said. "Jobs will follow the labor pool, not the other way around." He said southern Middle Tennessee is particularly susceptible to marketplace changes as a large percentage of suppliers to automobile manufacturers are expected to disappear within five years. "What are you going to do to replace those jobs?" he said, "What are the consequences of staying the same?" What is needed, he said, is an understanding of what type of jobs will be in demand in the future and creating a workforce prepared to handle those jobs. "If you can't get the energy and the where-with-all to attract new industry to the community, then educate them to leave it," he said. "It's your moral obligation." Barlow said school systems need to offer three times as much biology to prepare students for jobs in the rapidly growing biotechnology field, and begin offering Mandarin Chinese to help facilitate trade with the largest potential marketplace in the world. He acknowledged that more spending on education would be necessary, but the investment would pay dividends as better industry is attracted. "We must make the community see the connection between funding schools and promoting economic development," he said. "Success is going to take a collaborative effort." After a break for lunch, the Workforce Board met with Barlow to formulate specific strategies to prepare for the future. Barlow is the President of Creating the Future, Inc. and is a professional speaker on the influences which will affect industry, organizational, professional and community settings. He has held executive positions in healthcare, business, higher education and a Washington D.C.-based management consulting firm.
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