Michael Ferraro, National ASTD’s Public Policy Advisor, brings to our attention the PBS program “Need to Know”, aired earlier this month. (Find the link here.) The program focuses on efforts in Seattle, promoted by the National STEM Consortium, to target structural unemployment by improving the scientific, technical and mathematical (STEM) know-how of local workers. 

The segment highlights the struggles of one woman, well past the typical college years, to become retrained in composite materials, one of the advanced technologies reshaping the American economy and demanding more skills and knowledge of workers.  While the woman pursues her training under the stress of being homeless, high-paying jobs in the composite materials industry go begging in Washington state.

Interviews with local and national experts pose some challenging questions the American public, and WLP professionals in particular, on how we as a society meet the demands of helping people succeed in rapidly changing  economy that demands ever more knowledge and skill.