As the U.S. and the rest of the world crawl ever so slowly to a new normal, internationally recognized labor economist and human capital management expert Edward E Gordon has a dire warning. The U.S. job market is facing “Job Shock” through this decade and beyond.
Gordon, author of 20+ books on labor and workforce development for nearly 50 years, will release the first of his monthly “Job Shock” white papers live this Friday, January 29 at Noon ET on The Gordon Report, sponsored by Success Performance Solutions and moderated by Future of Work Global Thought Leader Ira S Wolfe.
According to Gordon, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated a widening skills gap and accelerated what he calls an employment meltdown. He says, “The United States is not creating more high-pay, low-skilled jobs; it is creating more high-pay, higher-skilled jobs. We are not preparing enough students for the talent realities of the current U.S. job market.” He estimates the U.S. will need double the number of skilled workers over the next 10 years if we are to remain competitive.
Gordon suggests we look no further than the challenges illustrating the problem COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers have: hundreds of vacant jobs exist for engineering and quality control jobs. Healthcare organizations struggle with everyday staffing needs. There are acute shortages of critical-care doctors and nurses as well as lab technicians to process COVID tests. For more than 30 years, “We took for granted that business and higher ed institutions would figure it out,” Dr. Gordon notes. “But now there is a real danger that the world will not end in a big bang, but production will just slow to a grinding halt.”
The public is invited to join the livestream of The Gordon Report on January 29, 2021 at Noon ET. It will be broadcast live on:
Employers, job seekers, educators, and workforce development leaders are encouraged to participate in this month’s Gordon Report. Wolfe and Gordon will discuss this first glimpse of the “Job Shock” white paper. The white paper will then be updated monthly and the updates can be downloaded after each episode from The Imperial Consulting Corporation website by subscribing to The Gordon Report.
To schedule an interview with Dr. Ed Gordon, click here.
To contract or schedule an interview with Ira S Wolfe, click here.