Last month, I joined my Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council co-chair Danny Wegman in meeting with the Democrat and Chronicle editorial board. We were asked about signs that the economy in our region was strengthening. Among the indicators I cited was the continued strong enrollment in programs at MCC that are directly linked to our regional economy, programs in career and technical education, health care, and STEM. While our enrollment overall has been declining, these programs have seen smaller declines or even increases. To me, that was a clear indication that students saw a path forward to economic opportunity in the very sectors the regional economic council has identified as key to our present and future: optics and photonics, next generation manufacturing and technologies, and agriculture and food processing. These enrollments also underscored fundamental shifts in the bar to entry-level employment, as those seeking work are increasingly realizing that some postsecondary education—whether an industry-recognized credential or associate degree—is required.
Fast forward to last week, when the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) released its latest report, “America’s Divided Recovery: College Haves and Have Nots <
https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/americas-divided-recovery/> .” The report’s findings directly align with my observations to the editorial board. CEW’s data may not be surprising to anyone who has been mapping employment opportunities post-recession (2010 forward), but they are still stark. Of the 11.6M jobs created post-recession, 99% have gone to workers with at least some college education. By education category, post-recession, graduate degree holders found almost 4M jobs; bachelor’s degree holders, 4.5M jobs; and those with some college and associate degrees, over 3M jobs. Those with a high school diploma or less were qualified for only 80K of the created jobs: just 1%. CEW refers to the rift between those with and without college as “an educational fault line.” The shift has been seismic.
Two of the most significant growth areas for degree holders would not surprise anyone looking at MCC’s enrollment patterns: health care and technical occupations. To highlight the enormous shift in workforce requirements, CEW uses manufacturing as a central example. During the recession, manufacturing lost 1.6M jobs that were held by those with a high school diploma or less; only 214K of these jobs were regained, about 13%. In contrast, about 90% of positions requiring an associate degree have been recouped. The real shake-up has been among those positions requiring a bachelor’s degree or above: manufacturing now employs more than twice the number of workers with these credentials than it did before the recession.
The findings in CEW’s report validate what MCC’s Economic Development and Innovative Workforce Services division has found in our regional workforce and begin to explain some of what we are seeing in our own enrollment. Shifts in the economy are prompting concurrent shifts in the ways our students are thinking about their college educations: from their majors to their goals to their timelines. We need to recognize these changes and include them in our thinking, programming, scheduling, and responsiveness.
The CEW report also makes clear and plain that a chasm has opened between those who attain postsecondary credentials and those who do not. The work of the Rochester-Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative has documented the ongoing consequences of this gap in our own community, and as our community’s college, MCC has a central role to play in bridging the gap and assuring students can access and complete programs that will move them from “have nots” to “haves.” CEW’s conclusion puts it simply: “This makes the acquisition of postsecondary education an essential prerequisite to participate in the 21st century labor market” (p. 33).
The data are unambiguous. Our value and importance rest in how we respond both to demand-driven industry needs that link graduates to immediate employment, and to strengthened baccalaureate transfer pathways that connect students to advanced opportunities. MCC’s comprehensive mission remains critical, and our responsibility to carry it out has renewed weight. Thank you for investing your talent, energy, commitment, and vision in assuring we answer this challenge.
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