Colorado cannot be a great state without a sustainable economy. And creating this economy requires investment in our workforce and economic infrastructure.
Earlier this month the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. in partnership with Qwest, released its second report on Colorado’s competitive position. Titled “Toward a More Competitive Colorado,” this report examined more than 80 nationally accepted measures of economic vitality and compared Colorado to the rest of the nation and its regional competitors.
Nine “employment clusters” drive metro Denver’s economy: aerospace, energy, bioscience, financial services, information technology-software, air transportation, information technology-hardware, beverages and telecom/broadcasting.
Eight of these clusters are in growing, the exception being telecom/broadcasting. The dot-com crash of 2001 is still being felt in this employment sector, although employment prospects are improving in 2007.
The good news about Colorado is that we remain a competitive state for new jobs. We are well-educated, our tax burden is modest and our people are reasonably healthy.
The report found these key statistics about Colorado:
These statistics paint a positive picture. But in last year’s report, we highlighted the “Colorado Paradox,” the fact that we have one of the nation’s most highly college-educated populations, while registering what can only be called mediocre high school graduation rates.
Colorado is:
So, while we offer a quality of life that lures highly educated adults to fill jobs in our highest paid professions, far too many of our own children will lack the education and work skills necessary to compete for such high-paying jobs. This is a bankrupt economic strategy.
These situation was mirrored in our analysis of the key employment clusters.
Aerospace is our highest paying cluster, with an average wage of $93,000. You don’t have to be a “rocket scientist” to earn this wage. Scientists in this field surpass six-figure incomes. But our aging aerospace engineers, with a median age of 56 in Colorado, are seeing too few qualified, younger workers to replace them.
Energy is our second highest paying sector. Again, an aging work force leaves this cluster threatened, with insufficient numbers of qualified workers coming through the replacement pipeline. This sector holds great promise for not only the traditional fossil fuels industry but the burgeoning fields of alternative energy, bio-fuels and energy conservation.
Major employers in telecommunications and beverages, such as Qwest and Molson Coors, will see substantial portions of their workforces retire in the next five years. These jobs are high paying. Employers continue to express concern whether the quality of labor replacing these retirees will be adequate.
Clearly, our greatest fear for the long-term sustainability of the Colorado economy remains our educational system, the quality of its graduates and funding.
The Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. has joined with the U.S. Department of Labor, state government and the city of Denver to address this problem. Under a $15 million grant from the federal government, we are working to create a seamless pipeline of qualified graduates from area high schools, community colleges and universities that are ready for jobs in aerospace, bioscience, software/IT and energy.
The grant is part of the national Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative, awarded to 13 U.S. regions. Metro Denver’s initial WIRED activities include an inventory of existing education programs to establish what is in place, an assessment of target-industry workforce needs and an analysis of education changes to fill those needs. The grant will then fund new education initiatives to address long-term, regional workforce training.
It is a daunting task. Institutional roadblocks abound. The types of training being provided today do not always fit within a changing economy. Students often choose careers that have less demanding academic coursework.
Will it work? Can industry and education learn to speak the same language? Will the private sector, government and education each step up to their respective responsibilities to ensure a prosperous future for future generations?
The answer will not be known for years. But we think that few other states have a greater probability of altering our future in a positive manner than does Colorado.
John Ikard is president of FirstBank Holding Company. Kirk MacDonald is CEO of iM&I, a marketing firm. They are co-chairs of the executive committee of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation’s board of governors.
