One problem plaguing many Georgia companies, too many job applicants lacking adequate education and skills, is a problem for all of us.
It means money that could be used here to build schools and roads goes elsewhere. The gap between skills that jobs require and the skills Georgians bring is wide, and it is the chasm between success or failure in the future.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this year tallied jobs, wages and population growth since the Great Recession, and found we trailed Sunbelt competitors such as Charlotte and Dallas in most categories, sometimes by a wide margin.
How did Georgia wind up playing catch-up?
Interviews with local and national education experts, civic and business leaders and students suggest answers include miscommunication between educators and business leaders about the skills gap, sporadic involvement by business owners (particularly in rural Georgia), frequent turnover of education leaders, and inadequate state funding for education.
Georgia, once a national leader in education initiatives, today is just in the middle of the pack. And the educational requirements for good jobs continue to grow. That’s not a hopeful sign. Yet several dozen interviews with local and national education experts suggest Georgia school districts often lack innovative approaches to prepare students for life after high school or college.
Read our findings in articles in Sunday's paper or online at our premium website, myAJC.com. And delve into a special interactive presentation, "Retooling Georgia's schools," here.
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