Media stories about the skills mismatch between applicant qualifications and employer expectations have been a regular feature for decades. Among the most recent entries are a Washington Post story titled “Why Recruiters Can’t Find Workers and New Grads Can’t Find Jobs,” which warned of the oncoming “largest labor shortage in history,” and a Forbes report on a survey from the National Federation of Independent Businesses that showed a majority of respondents seeking to hire in June couldn’t find qualified staff. One in five said this is their biggest issue as a small business owner.
Solving this predicament is one rationale for the strong political support and attention shown to work-based learning and high school career and technical education programs. But leaders running these programs report a quandary of their own: They can’t find enough employers willing to host interested high school students in meaningful roles, or sometimes enough students to fill available spots.
The usual explanation, that one side or the other isn’t trying hard enough, misses what’s really going on. The problem isn’t effort. It’s infrastructure.
