Most communities ask themselves the question – how can we attract more economic growth? Do we recruit the businesses first? Do we build infrastructure? Is human capital development the answer?
Obviously this is a complex issue but there are some signs that higher education plays a role in attracting jobs – and not just any jobs but good, high-paying jobs. An article from the Winter 2004-’05 issue of Bridges (a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis, MO) asks the question, “What determines where good jobs are created?” The answer, in part, is that an increase in higher education by an area’s workforce is directly related to long-term economic improvement for that area. According to the article, “A 1 percentage point increase in the share of a city’s adult population (i.e., at least 25 years of age) with a bachelor’s degree is associated with a 1.2 percentage point increase in the rate at which good jobs are created over the next 10 years.” For the purposes of this article what is described as a “good job” here is one that pays almost $22/hr. Bad jobs, or those paying roughly $12/hr, also grew with the appearance of a better-educated labor force but at less of a rate of increase.
This is one of the best articles in recent years that I’ve seen describe the cumulative effects of a skilled labor force in communities. Bridges notes that the effects of high-paying jobs are multiple and one of the most compelling effects is that an increase in high-paying jobs tends to account for an increase in wages for all employment levels. Bad jobs have the opposite effect by reducing wage levels. Higher-paying jobs also translate into increased property values and reduced crime rates.
All these benefits start with attaining a college education, no small feat but a trend that has certainly increased in the past 20-30 years. Some of this country’s best commentators and authors, Tom Friedman and David Brooks to name two, have pointed to a well-educated workforce as the backbone of any healthy, stable American economy. This is pointing to the best possible future for America’s economy, though, and doesn’t look at the potential for a significant drag at the other end of the spectrum – high school dropouts. I’m all for initiatives that increase the level of college graduates in the United States, who wouldn’t be since data seem to suggest their entry into the workforce helps us all! Equally, though, we should be concerned about high school dropouts who are easily ignored by being undercounted but who often make up a significant percentage of the statistics that we don’t like to see – like those unemployed, on the dole, or in prison. Over the next few days I will be mentioning some stories and resources on dropouts to underscore the urgency of the issue for the dropouts themselves and the communities in which they are embedded.
Comments