The Kansas Workforce: Employer Assessment

Abstract

In 1989, an IPPBR/Kansas, Inc. study asked employers to assess the skills of the Kansas workforce, both basic academic skills and other skills needed to meet job requirements. Firms reported that employees needed to improve skills. Since that time, many changes have occurred in the way work is performed and in the way students are educated. Have changes in education produced students who enter the workforce with skills that match job skill requirements? Has the rapid pace of technological change outstripped the rate of improvement in workers' skills? The purpose of the present study was to survey owners or managers of Kansas firms to determine whether employers' perceptions of the Kansas workforce changed from 1989 to 1996.

A telephone survey (similar to that conducted in 1989) asked 600 Kansas firms questions about the training and competence of new hires and present employees, future training requirements, and the utilization and quality of training programs. Firms surveyed represented manufacturers and nonmanufacturers, firms of different sizes (small, medium, and large), and firms in different settings (rural, mid-sized, and urban counties).