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The National Skills Coalition, formerly the Workforce Alliance, launched a national Skills2Compete Campaign in 2007.
Since 2007, eleven other states throughout the U.S. have conducted Skills2Compete Campaigns in their states. Given that there are 650,000 Hoosier workers who lack a college education and as a result are earning less than a self-sufficient wage, Indiana Institute for Working Families is partnering with the National Skills Coalition and representatives from business, labor, education, and government to bring greater awareness to the need to match the skills of Indiana’s workers with the demands its workforce.
Middle-skills jobs are a critical component of Indiana’s economy and workers need to acquire the skills and education required to fill these positions. The Skills2Compete campaign creates a platform by which to bring greater attention to middle-skilled jobs and the workers we need to fill them that are often forgotten by most of today’s higher education debates.
Skills2Compete Campaigns across the nation have had tangible impact on changing the tone of policy discussions in their respective states while cultivating a host of new allies in support of an expanded skills agenda. Indiana’s Skills2Compete Coalition is actively mobilizing stakeholders around the campaign’s policy goals, will work to bring increased press attention to Indiana’s forgotten middle-skills jobs and the workers needed to fill them, and will present these issues to Indiana’s state and national policymakers in order to build awareness and interest in advancing the skill levels of Indiana’s workforce.
What is the definition of Middle-Skill Jobs?
We typically use this as the standard definition:
Middle-skill jobs require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree. The term middle-skill refers to the level of education and training required by a particular job. It should not be confused with the actual competence and capacity of workers and occupations — many middle-skill occupations require highly skilled trade and technical workers
In the report, we also call attention to the types of middle-skill jobs in the section “The Face of Middle-Skill Jobs.” Examples include police officers, fire fighters, medical technicians, air traffic controllers, electricians, and mechanics.
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