Illinois Q-C Chamber studies future work force

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By Jennifer DeWitt | Monday, May 5, 2008 11:04 PM CDT | () comments

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2007 llinois Q-C Graduate Inventory

The Quad-City region graduates nearly 48,000 high school and college students each year — enough to help fill the area’s future work force needs, according to a study released Monday by the Illinois Quad-City Chamber of Commerce.

The first-ever Quad-Cities Graduate Inventory determined that 47,700 graduates are being produced annually within a 90-mile radius, which is considered the laborshed area for the Quad-Cities. It also detailed the graduates’ level of degrees and their areas of study to determine how they match up with the work force opportunities expected to be available in the coming years.

“For the first time, we have a comprehensive understanding of the potential work force graduating from our region’s colleges and high schools,” said Paul Rumler, the chamber’s vice president. “The details provided in the Graduate Inventory will allow the Quad-Cities work force attraction and retention initiatives to specifically target a potential work force necessary to meet the current and projected needs of area employers.”

The inventory, compiled by Rumler, includes data gathered from 33 area colleges and universities as well as 193 high school districts in Iowa and Illinois. The study took about three to four months to conduct and began in October.

“This started out as a college graduate inventory, but grew to include high school … because we saw our employers needed a large number of high school graduates in the future,” he said, adding that in some cases employers intended to train new workers on the job or send them for training after they are hired.

Rumler said the inventory’s findings are consistent with an earlier chamber survey, known as a Workforce Study, released in February. That report found that nearly 51,000 Quad-City region workers will be eligible for retirement in 2014. As a result, it determined an increasing need for workers within a wide range of education backgrounds and degree programs.

Having a Graduate Inventory was identified as a critical goal of the chamber’s Blueprint 2010: A Regional Strategy for Unified Growth. That economic development plan was first unveiled in 2005.

Among the key findings in the Quad-Cities Graduate Inventory are:

n 23,119 college students will graduate from more than 33 area colleges and universities during the 2006-2007 year.

n The graduates will earn these levels of degrees: diplomas, 662 graduates; certificates, 2,794; associates, 6,720; bachelor’s, 9,388; master’s, 2,264; and doctoral, 1,291.

n By industry, graduates are studying these areas: agriculture; automotive; communication and utilities; construction/trades; education;

entertainment & recreation; finance and insurance;

government/public administration; health care and social services; hospitality; IT; manufacturing; professional services; real estate; restaurants; retail; scientific research and transportation/logistics/distribution.

n 24,660 high school students graduated from 193 school districts within a 90-mile radius of the Quad-Cities, including 121 districts in Illinois and 72 in Iowa.

Rumler said the survey will help area employers identify the availability of potential candidates to fill their openings — from their hard-to-fill vacancies to new jobs created by expansions or retirements.

For those who provide training and education for the work force, the inventory helps identify what type of work force will be available and what new training programs may be needed to meet the employers’ needs.

For high school students and the guidance counselors assisting them, the inventory and the work force study show what types of jobs and programs exist. “They can show them these are the potential majors that are out there … and now they can match it up with the work force needs,” Rumler said.

In addition, the Graduate Inventory can help community, business, labor and educational leaders in their efforts to promote the Quad-City region’s availability of a skilled and educated work force to companies looking to expand or move to the Quad-Cities.

Rumler said he was most surprised by the number — nearly 48,000 graduates. “There are sufficient people graduating, it’s whether or not we can tell the story here in the Quad-Cities (to retain or attract them.)”

According to the study, between 2008 and 2014 the region will have 350,000 students who will graduate from high school and college or will drop out of high school. Rumler said to fill the future retirement needs, the area will have to retain 14.2 percent of those students.

The chamber report pointed out that new graduates are one of four resources of workers available to employers. In addition, employers look to retain retirement-eligible workers, promote or hire workers seeking new opportunities, as well as attract from outside the area’s laborshed.

Rumler said the chamber’s next step is to help employers understand how to use the new data as well as to begin reaching out to high school and college students in the laborshed, particularly those outside the immediate Quad-Cities. “They may not be familiar with the opportunities in the Quad-Cities. But they are in driving distance and we can reach out to them and start talking about the good quality of life we have here.”

He said a third study is planned to understand the impressions that college students have of the Quad-Cities.

Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com.