The Huffington Post – Blair Forlaw
“You might not see it when driving past your local sports field, but trouble lurks beneath the dirt. Every year for the past 16, enrollment in Little League baseball has steadily dropped, according to reporting in the Wall Street Journal. One or two percentage points annually is the kind of slow but steady erosion that escapes notice until it’s almost too late to do anything about it. Could the foundation of one of America’s most treasured traditions be crumbling away, right below our feet? It’s deja vu all over again, as Yogi Berra might have said. It’s a lot like what has happened to jobs and skills — all-American mainstays that also aren’t what they used to be. Not too long ago, winning in the workplace was about being dependable, consistent, loyal, a good sport. Then suddenly, we turn around and the labor market looks like a whole new playing field, with different positions, unfamiliar rules, and a lot of people on the sidelines. What’s going on? Here are three clues to help us answer that question by better understanding the demand for skills in today’s market and the gap between where we career-seekers are and where businesses wish we would be.”(more)