Worcester Business Journal

14 2016 Central Mass By The Numbers • Worcester Business Journal www.wbjournal.com Worcester Suffolk Plymouth Norfolk Middlesex Hampshire Hampden Franklin Essex Bristol Berkshire Barnstable Less than high school diploma High school graduate (Includes equivalency) Some college, no degree Associate's degree Bachelor's degree Graduate or professional degree 5.1% 9.4% 17.8% 10.8% 8.1% 15.9% 6.3% 7.9% 7.3% 7.9% 16% 10.4% 25.1% 32.1% 30.3% 26.2% 27.6% 30.6% 24.9% 21.4% 21.5% 29.3% 24% 28.7% 8.3% 10% 8.4% 8.3% 12.7% 10% 10.3% 6.3% 7.4% 10.8% 4.9% 8.9% 25% 17.3% 16.6% 23.2% 17.7% 15.6% 21.3% 26.6% 28.8% 21.4% 23.4% 22.2% 20.8% 18.6% 17.7% 17.5% 19.5% 18.7% 16.7% 13.3% 14.7% 18.9% 14.3% 17.7% 19.3% 13.8% 9.2% 15.7% 18.2% 11.9% 21.1% 25.7% 23.1% 12.7% 18.9% 12.4% High school graduates are Worcester County plurality for educational attainment, 2015 (ages 25 +) Source: U.S. Census Bureau - 2015 American Community Survey; Note: Some counties' total percentages may not add up to 100 due to rounding. Education Vocational schools looking to reduce wait lists M uch has been said about the so-called statewide skills gap, which refers to the idea that over the next decade or so, Massachusetts will face a shortage of qualified workers for the jobs that will exist by the early 2020s. To help meet these upcoming work- force needs, the Baker Administration has placed a large emphasis on the importance of vocational high schools. Economic development proposals and funding from the administration have included funds for these schools. According to a 2015 study from Northeastern University's Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, three out of five of the nearly 1.2 million job openings that will occur by 2022 will require less than a bachelor's degree and one-third will require no more than a high school degree. And while vocational schools, as they stand now, will feasibly be able to fill 11.7 percent of those projected job openings, they still need to find a way to increase workforce training efforts, mainly because of a need to fill jobs left vacant by retiring workers, the study found. $45M voke expansion But another study from the Dukakis Center, this one specifically focusing on vocational schools, found these schools Students at Worcester Technical High School learn the skills neces- sary to become automotive technicians. are stretched thin. As of October 2015, 3,200 applicants were on waiting lists for vocational schools, with the longest wait- ing lists located in Gateway Cities such as Fitchburg and Worcester. BY LAURA FINALDI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer Part of the solution to this problem will come from expanding access the schools themselves, said Timothy Murray, presi- dent and CEO of the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Murray, who is also a co- chair of the statewide Alliance for Vocational Technical Education, said that means not only physi- cally expanding the schools, but also offering classes after-hours – even on weekends or over the summers. "It's not just about building new buildings, but it's also about how do we take those programs and use them 18 hours a day?" he said. T h e B a k e r Administration in August signed into law an eco- nomic development bill that included $45 million over three years for new equipment and training at vocational schools. $32-per-hour plumber graduates At Assabet Valley Vocational High School in Marlborough, the waitlist holds pretty much steadily at 45 fresh- men per year, said Principal Mark Hollick. The school, which can admit 300 freshmen out of 500 applications annu- ally, can only take a limited number of kids per program. Whenever it has an opening, it'll offer a spot to a student from the wait list, Hollick said, up until junior year. Still, he said, he knows there are schools in the area without a wait list, and he wishes there was a way to send some kids from Assabet's wait list to those schools. According to the Dukakis Center, high demand for seats at vocational schools could mean that students who tradition- ally would benefit the most from a voca- tional education as opposed to one focused entirely on academics are being denied the chance to do so. "We'll continue to try to stay at the maximum capacity," Hollick said. But Assabet and vocational education in general have changed a lot since the 1980s, when Hollick was a student there. It was more common then for people to go right into trades after graduating, but now, he said, almost half of their gradu- ates go onto higher education. Vocational school graduates who go on to college use it to enhance resumes. "I was just meeting with a young lady in the senior class – she's ranked No. 1 in the class – who is awaiting admission to MIT," he said. "What does that say about us? It probably says a whole bunch of dif- ferent things. A whole bunch of kids are going on to great schools, and some graduate as plumbers at $32 an hour right out of high school." W

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