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• Special Insider's Report
  • The Face of America's Workforce is Changing
  • Minorities Need Support to Narrow the Education and Income Gap
  • Education Benefits Make the Best Companies
  • More Adults are Going Back to get Ahead
  • Position Your Employees For the Future
• Individual and Company Information Sessions

The Face of America's Workforce is Changing

More women than ever before are entering the labor force today. In fact, it is estimated that by the year 2008, 50% of new entrants in the job market will be women.

One of the reasons for the increase is that single parents now head more American house-holds. The Census Bureau estimates that single-parent families account for 32% of all families with children under 18 years of age, and that 80% of those families are headed by women.

To coincide with those figures, more women are returning to college because they know the key to a good job is education. Today, higher education enrollments are estimated to have grown 27%, from just under 5 million to over 6.3 million. Enrollments among women age 35 and older have grown by a whopping 137%.

Recent studies also show that more women than men (25% more) are earning their bachelor's degrees. In 1997, women accounted for 57% of all master's degrees, 42% of first-professional degrees and 40% of all doctoral degrees.

Because most of those women also work full time, affordable childcare and flexible study options have become increasingly important.

The good news is, women's earnings are on the rise based on their education. College graduates aged 25 to 34 who work full-time had median earnings of $32,100 ­ more than twice the median of full-time workers who did not finish high school. Eleven percent of women aged 25 to 34 who completed college and work full-time had earnings of at least $50,000 in 1997.

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Minorities Need Support to Narrow the Education and Income Gap

By the year 2008, minorities in America will take over a larger share of job positions. That means the percentage of white, non-Hispanic workers is expected to drop from 75% to 70% of the total. However, since white men and women are more likely than blacks and Hispanics to have attended college or to have a college degree, it's going to be important to provide more
educational opportunities to all.

Certainly the educational gap would narrow substantially if blacks and Hispanics had more support for completing college. Also, since education is so closely linked to earnings, raising the college completion rates of minorities would narrow the income gap as well.

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Education Benefits Make the Best Companies

When Fortune magazine ranked the '100 best companies to work for employee training was considered an important criterion. On average, those top 100 companies covered the cost of 43 hours of training for each employee per year. Even better, 20% of those same corporations offered more than 80 hours of training per employee each year. In addition to training, one-third
offered 100% tuition reimbursement.

Employees appreciate company support in their efforts to gain new knowledge and improve their business skills. It makes them feel valued and gives them more confidence, which makes them a greater asset to their company and their company's success. Employers who promote education and training find they retain employees longer, too.

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More Adults are Going Back to get Ahead

Forty percent of people aged 17 or older took some type of adult education course in 1995. Among the 25-to-34-year-olds, most were taking courses for job advancement, others were completing their degrees, and four out of 10 participated for personal or social reasons.

Although undergraduates are most likely to be under age 25, graduate students are more commonly aged 25 or older. In fact, many of today's young adults will be pursuing an education until they are in their late thirties or forties. Thirty-eight percent of graduate students are aged 35 or older.

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Position Your Employees For the Future

By 2008, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 63% of the labor force will be 35-64 years old; and the numbers of new workers will not be able to meet the demands of the economy's labor needs. That means those already in the work force must be ready to replace aging workers in a highly competitive, constantly changing global economy.

Fortunately many employers now realize that employee education is a necessary expense for most companies today. Adult education opportunities will also continue to grow. It's going to be crucial for businesses to develop their human resources in order to remain competitive. That means employees will have to gain new knowledge and new skills.