Volume 9, No. 1


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Southwestern Economic Development Region

Southwestern Economic Development Region: Critical Skills Shortage Initiative

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Southwestern Ecomonic Development Region:
Critical Skills Shortage Initiative

by Dennis Hoffman

The goal of the Critical Skills Shortage Initiative (CSSI), which is a part of Governor Rod Blagojevich’s Opportunity Returns regional economic development plan, is to build a more skilled workforce by strengthening education and job training. One of the more serious challenges of the future economy will be matching the skills of the workforce with the needs of business. By identifying the critical set of skills that employers demand and then teaching workers these skills, businesses and workers can thrive in a vigorous economy.

The Southwestern Economic Development Region, located across the Mississippi River from the City of St. Louis, Missouri, has for many years been recognized as a major economic and commercial region. Two counties (Bond and Madison) are in Workforce Investment Area 22 and five counties (Clinton, Monroe, Randolph, St. Clair and Washington) are in Workforce Investment Area 24. Two of the smaller counties, Calhoun and Jersey are in Workforce Investment Area 21. Since most of the population, businesses, commerce, and events are located or take place in Madison and St. Clair counties, these two counties dominate all planning and development strategies.

Because of the many mutual interests that Workforce Investment Areas 22 and 24 have, these two workforce investment boards have been partners in numerous projects and discussions in recent years. Thus, with the formation of the Southwestern Economic Development Region, it was a natural and easy adjustment for these two workforce investment boards, with representation from Workforce Investment Board 21, to advance their cooperative efforts and partner in the Critical Skills Shortage Initiative.

Madison County has been awarded a $172,000 grant to act as fiscal agent for the Critical Skills Shortage Initiative for the Southwestern Economic Development Region. This grant will enable a group of stakeholders who include employers, educators, economic developers, and community leaders to identify industry sectors and specific occupations within those sectors where current and projected worker shortages prevail. Then, the root causes of these shortages will be determined and a regional solution developed to address the economic and workforce development demands.

The Southwestern Economic Development Region has already identified several occupations in the health care industry as a critical skills shortage priority. As a first step, a summit was held in Collinsville on March 26, 2004 with health care professionals to discuss the local labor force demands in their industry. Nineteen health care professionals along with fourteen Workforce Investment Board staff members met to discuss a plan to alleviate specific skill shortages.

Discussions between Workforce Investment Board staff and Illinois Department of Employment Security, Economic Information & Analysis staff helped to identify three additional industries to focus critical skills shortages resources. The three business clusters selected were health care, transportation (trucking and warehousing/storage), and manufacturing (especially industrial and commercial machinery and computer equipment manufacturing). Employment in manufacturing, although declining, is still substantial in the Metro-East area and selecting a manufacturing sector with potential was a part of the identifying process for future skill needs. Consideration of average or above average wages for occupations was essential in selecting the industry groups. (See chart for a sample of the average annual job openings projected for selected occupations and for entry hourly wages for those occupations in the Southwestern Economic Development Region.)

The Southwestern Economic Development Region Critical Skills Shortages Initiative has been launched and will gain momentum as champions (chairmen) have been named to spearhead economic development efforts with businesses. Workforce Associates, Inc. has been hired to create a formal CSSI report. By the time this report is published, many additional advances and actions will have been designated to meet the future workforce requirements in the Southwestern Economic Development Region.