Our Views: Labor issue is critical
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Louisiana is making progress with new ethics laws and proposed reductions in business taxes that will make the state a better place to do business. But the state will need to dramatically change the way it trains workers if Louisiana is to be truly successful in building the economy.
That’s the message from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, an influential business group proposing changes in state policies on work-force development.
LABI is supporting legislation aimed at moving a greater share of decision-making about work-force training from Baton Rouge to local Workforce Investment Boards. LABI also wants to replace the state Department of Labor with a Louisiana Workforce Commission that presumably would have more flexibility to train workers for Louisiana industry.
“It is widely recognized that the current system is inadequate,” Jim Patterson, LABI’s point man on work-force development, wrote in a recent issue of LABI’s Enterprise magazine. “And while there are a number of reasons for this, LABI believes that it is largely attributable to two key factors. First is the fragmentation of training programs among various state departments, which results in the lack of a coordinated approach to providing the training needed. The second is the absence of local employer involvement” in worker-training programs.
Patterson predicted that Louisiana’s recovery from the 2005 storms could stall because of a lack of skilled workers.
We understand the urgency of training new workers, and we believe LABI’s ideas for changing work-force training need serious consideration.
But even if Louisiana’s system for training workers is improved, the results could take years to bear fruit. In the meantime, Louisiana has a serious shortage of skilled workers, and the only immediate solution, as far as we can see, will be importing these skilled workers from outside the state.
That’s going to mean big political implications when unskilled Louisiana workers complain that they’re being rejected in favor of trained workers from elsewhere.
This is a political reality that few people at the State Capitol seem willing to acknowledge.
That’s the message from the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, an influential business group proposing changes in state policies on work-force development.
LABI is supporting legislation aimed at moving a greater share of decision-making about work-force training from Baton Rouge to local Workforce Investment Boards. LABI also wants to replace the state Department of Labor with a Louisiana Workforce Commission that presumably would have more flexibility to train workers for Louisiana industry.
“It is widely recognized that the current system is inadequate,” Jim Patterson, LABI’s point man on work-force development, wrote in a recent issue of LABI’s Enterprise magazine. “And while there are a number of reasons for this, LABI believes that it is largely attributable to two key factors. First is the fragmentation of training programs among various state departments, which results in the lack of a coordinated approach to providing the training needed. The second is the absence of local employer involvement” in worker-training programs.
Patterson predicted that Louisiana’s recovery from the 2005 storms could stall because of a lack of skilled workers.
We understand the urgency of training new workers, and we believe LABI’s ideas for changing work-force training need serious consideration.
But even if Louisiana’s system for training workers is improved, the results could take years to bear fruit. In the meantime, Louisiana has a serious shortage of skilled workers, and the only immediate solution, as far as we can see, will be importing these skilled workers from outside the state.
That’s going to mean big political implications when unskilled Louisiana workers complain that they’re being rejected in favor of trained workers from elsewhere.
This is a political reality that few people at the State Capitol seem willing to acknowledge.
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