It’s bad news when a local company finds it can fill only two of 20 positions with workers from within Rhode Island.
But that is the situation that health care and information technology company MEDfx Corp. found itself in earlier this year, when the persistent skills gap between what companies in today’s Information Age economy need and what Rhode Island’s workers bring to the party short-circuited its plans.
A $3.4 million grant from the federal government being directed toward worker training through the Community College of Rhode Island is a start toward upgrading the state’s work force. But that program expects to reach only 600 workers over a 36-month period. Far more needs to be done.
It is clear that the deficiencies in Rhode Island’s education system have been building for years. What is less clear is why a system that brought the state’s economic interest to this point is still standing in much the same way as it has for years.
The most important issue facing state government right now is fixing the pension mess. But creating an education system that develops the state’s human capital for the economy of the future should be next up, and soon. •