In many parts of Canada, particularly in the eastern parts of the nation, too many youngsters do not have a job.
This is not only a huge loss of productive capacity, as people in the prime of life are turned into dependents, but is a source of great social upheaval.
At the same time companies complain a great deal that they cannot get hold of the right people. An employment agency reported that a significant number of employers in special areas, such as engineering, but also in mid-level ones such as administration, disclosed that they are beset by shortages of personnel.
All kinds of firms apparently have a lack of people to fill mid-level jobs.
What are the explanations for this paradox, and how can that be changed? The problem is the gap between employers and our education/training system. The solution, therefore, is to coordinate their goals.
The most obvious answer is to completely reform our vocational education that for the most part is non-functional.
Governments and parents alike have focused on other parts of education, mainly universities. They consider vocational schools as a less desirable option for young people. The obsession with prestige institutions makes no sense in this era and wastes millions of dollars.
What is the point of young people attending, say the University of Toronto, taking a liberal arts course, and being unemployed after graduation?
Other nations have started to change that emphasis.
In Australia an institute of technology has a fully functioning replica of a gas processing plant. Governments and companies very short of qualified personnel then will be qualified to work as a consequence.
Many continue to be sceptical about the efforts to bridge the gap between academic and vocational schooling.
Yet nowadays technology means that the cost of vocational training can be reduced. Hitherto that has been a major impediment in funding vocational training.
In the United States, Miami Dade College, that nation’s largest community college, pays very close attention to students to ensure that their training is not wasted.
To improve vocational training schools must try to match teaching with employers’ requirements. Unemployment will persist because of weak overall demand. Still, the shortage of skills is not beyond remedy and the gap between job shortages and employers’ needs can be bridged by revamping government programs.
That will help reduce youth unemployment, so let us begin to implement the necessary reforms.