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Education called key to economy–Work force shortage is near crisis in Montana- Editorial: Work force needs higher education

The most important component of economic development is an educated work force, the board chairman for Cisco Systems Inc. told several hundred people at the opening of the Montana Economic Development Summit on Wednesday.

By ED KEMMICK
Of The Gazette Staff

John Morgridge, the keynote speaker at the two-day conference on the campus of Montana State University-Billings, said all businesses need workers who are well-educated, safe, healthy, housed and motivated by a sense of opportunity.

Morgridge, who helped Cisco Systems become a worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, said other keys to economic development are collaboration among businesses, government agencies and educational institutions; infrastructure, which today means high-speed Internet access; and a culture of risk-taking and community involvement.

Cisco was founded in 1984 by a group of Stanford University scientists and always has concentrated on developing Internet Protocol, the basic language used for communicating over the Internet and within private networks. It has developed products and technologies to make the Internet more useful and dynamic, including advanced routing and switching and optical networking.

Morgridge said Cisco, which has nearly 35,000 employees worldwide, practices what it preaches: more than 90 percent of the services the company offers are provided online, available 24 hours a day to customers all over the world.

The company also demonstrated its belief in the need for an educated work force by founding Cisco Networking Academies, which teaches students to design, build and maintain computer networks. In the audience at MSU-B’s Alterowitz Gymnasium for Morgridge’s address Wednesday were 20 students in a Cisco Networking Academy offered through the Career Center.

After his address, Morgridge met briefly with the students, asking them questions about what they have learned and what their aspirations are. The Career Center students are among nearly a half-million people studying at 11,000 Cisco academies in 151 countries.

Morgridge illustrated the progress that Montana has made, and how far it has to go, by presenting statistics gathered by the Progressive Policy Institute. According to the institute, Montana ranks 30th among the states in digital government, a measure of how well governments use the Internet to provide services to their citizens.

The state ranks No. 3 for use of the Internet by farmers and ranchers, and 31st in technology in the schools. In work force education, Montana is ranked 18th, and 33rd in per capita distribution of scientists and engineers in the state, Morgridge said.

One key to attracting high-tech industries is to capitalize on your strengths, whatever they might be, he said. He pointed to Salt Lake City, which induced United Airlines to open a call center there, not because it was particularly advanced technologically, but because its population included many people who had done Mormon missionary work abroad and could speak foreign languages.

In another session at the conference Wednesday, a federal official announced that Montana would receive nearly $900,000 in emergency funds to help laid-off workers get back on their feet.

Emily DeRocco, assistant secretary of the Employment and Training Administration in the U.S. Department of Labor, made the announcement.

"The place with the best-prepared work force wins," DeRocco told the crowd at Montana State University-Billings’ Alterowitz Gymnasium. The state’s primary goal, DeRocco said, should be to develop an educated work force.

Nearly $620,000 of the money will help 123 people who were laid off from Columbia Falls Aluminum in March, DeRocco said. The money will provide skills training, child support, transportation and other services to those people.

The remaining $260,000 will give temporary health-care coverage to 170 laid-off employees of Stimson Lumber Co. The company shut down its mill in Libby in December, displacing 300 workers.

Ed Kemmick can be reached at 657-1293 or [email protected].

Gazette reporter Melissa Lee contributed to this story.

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

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Work force shortage is near crisis

A study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce shows that Montana is on the verge of a crisis in finding qualified workers, the president of the Montana chamber said.

More than half of the 129 Montana employers who were surveyed said qualified applicants for jobs are either hard to find (42.1 percent) or very hard to find (9.5 percent). Similar numbers were reported nationally among the survey’s 3,700 respondents.

Shortage of workers

"The responses confirm our impressions regarding work force problems in Montana," Montana Chamber president Webb Brown said. "The projected work force shortage is already here. Although Montana business is doing very well in adding jobs and wages, we could be in trouble in very short order."

The study was conducted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Workforce Preparation.

Rising unemployment rates nationally have missed Montana. Montana’s unemployment rate in March dipped to 5.1 percent, the lowest for the month in at least 33 years. The national unemployment rate in April was 6 percent.

The study also showed that Montana lags behind the rest of the country in work force training. The study found that one-quarter of Montana employers haven’t trained their employees at all in the past 12 months, far above the national figure of 7 percent of companies that provide no training.

Brown said Montana’s employers trail their counterparts in the rest of the country in use of the state’s public work force-development system, a network that includes the Workforce Investment Board, the Job Service, the Montana Job Training Partnership and the Department of Labor and Industry.
Social welfare

"Unlike some other states, Montana considers that system to be more social welfare than economic development," Brown said.

When asked how they viewed the purpose of the state’s work force development system, 45.5 percent of Montana’s employers called the system social welfare, while only 15.2 percent said economic development. Nationally the programs were viewed as much more business-friendly, with 30.9 percent saying social welfare and 39.6 saying economic development.

Brown said it’s crucial that businesses take advantage of public jobs programs to find and train qualified workers.

"We need to get businesses better aware of what the public system has to offer and get them to use it more," he said.

(Another great resource is http://www.Montana-Jobs.net for senior management and technical programs.)

Copyright © 2003 Associated Press.

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

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Editorial: Work force needs higher education

Gazette Opinion
Last week, while 1,300 Billings high school seniors were taking final exams, business people in Billings and educators in Great Falls were considering the future of the class of 2003.

John Morgridge, chairman of Cisco Systems, told the Montana Economic Development Summit that an educated work force is the most important part of economic development.

The Board of Regents agreed to raise college tuition up to 12 percent at public higher education institutions this fall. Other tuition increases will occur in the spring, and more are expected in fall 2004.
Executive’s advice

Morgridge, who help build Cisco into a worldwide leader in Internet networking with nearly 35,000 employees, told his Billings audience that collaboration between business, government and educational institutions is a key to economic development. One way Cisco has put money into worker education is establishing 11,000 Cisco Networking Academies. One is located at the Billings Career Center where 20 high school students are completing two semesters of training in computer systems. This investment pays off for students and for Montana. Upon high school graduation, they can complete their training by enrolling at the Montana State University-Billings College of Technology and become nationally certified in computer systems. (Career Center Principal Charles McGahan reports that four students recently placed first in a national computer competition in Houston, Texas.)

Tuition will be going up in August at the COT as well as all other university campuses. Montana higher education leaders proposed that students shoulder 86.6 percent of the budget gap by paying higher tuition – to avoid cutting educational quality. The rest of the budget solution will be to cut spending.
Burgeoning student debt

To get through college in their home state, Montanans are taking on rapidly increasing amounts of educational debt. When they graduate, these bright, well-educated Montanans need jobs that pay enough to repay that debt. Montana wages often fail to be competitive, so our best and brightest often are forced to take jobs out of state to support their families and repay their college loans.

"The system will not exist without state support," said Regent John Mercer, a former state legislator. "The students are not capable of financing the university system in a manner that will pull the state out of the economic doldrums."

Will the Legislature and governor ever reverse the trend?

The outlook is uncertain. Private enterprise must help. Montanans must all invest in our future by using tax money to adequately support higher education. Graduates who go to work in Montana, in turn, become part of the citizenry supporting essential public services, including higher education.

The governor and legislators must hear from many people that higher education is vital to the state’s future. The several hundred business people who gathered last week in Billings can be leaders in getting the message to Montana decision makers. Say it loud; say it clear; say it again and again.

Quality higher education is a smart investment for Montana.

Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.

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