The Human Face of
Workforce Dynamics
Good News for Central New York
or
Lessons from Pluto
Lou Jean Fleron
Syracuse, New York
4 October 2006
Behind the numbers and the charts. . .
st
The 21 Century labor market. . .
…seeks and rewards
workers who can offer
education
the
foundation,
technical and
creative
flexibility
employers need to
adapt
to changing
compete and
needs successfully.
Changing realities. . .
 Impact our comfort level
 Some are predictive
 Some are of known duration
 Always challenging
Lessons from Pluto
“Some people may feel uncomfortable
because one of the facts they were sure of –
that there are nine planets
– has suddenly been taken away
SpaceDaily, August 31, 2006
Lessons from Pluto
Past Generations Learned:
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas
Future Generations Will Learn:
My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos
Choose Your Point of View
flawed… intense
arguments…embarrassing
First draft
for all of us…third draft
incorporated new
ideas…more
positive…made changes in a
short amount of time…
Catherine Pilachowski
Daniel Kirkwood Chair, Astronomy
Indiana University
Views of new realities. . .
Two out of three Americans view their
companies as doing a poor job of
rewarding employee loyalty,
attending to anything beyond the
bottom line.
The Conference Board
Difficult economic times. . .
 Work no longer gets you out of poverty
 Productivity no longer assures you
increased income—you may produce
more but not move ahead
 Education doesn’t always assure you a
higher standard of living
 High performance work
does not assure you job security
Promising possibility. . .
“Just as we moved from an economy in the first
part of the 20th century focused on
production and investment,
to one in the last half of the 20th century focused
mass consumption,
on
it is possible
that we are moving to an economy in the first half
enabling
people to live good lives.”
of the 21st century focused on
Robert D. Atkinson
The Past and Future of America’s Economy
Choose your road ahead. . .
knowledgebased, high trust organization
Compete by becoming a
– Training
– Empowering employees
– Harnessing their full motivation and talents to generate
innovative solutions that drive productivity and service
quality
– Family-friendly work organizations
OR
Compete by focusing primarily
on driving
down and controlling costs
Central New York. . .
signs of a high road
24% of the population
25 years of age and older
(Syracuse MSA) holds a
bachelor’s
degree or higher –
20% above the
national average
Essential New York Initiative, 2004
High marks. . .
13%
More than
of Central
New York’s workforce is in
Super Creative
Core – employed in
the
education, computer
engineering, the sciences
and the arts
Essential New York Initiative, 2004
Raising hopes. . .
1.2% increase in
jobs (Syracuse MSA)
from May 2005 to May
2006
National average
1.5% increase
for same time period
Energy for the future. . .
New York’s Centers of Excellence
Syracuse – Environmental and Energy Systems
collaborative
A
approach involving NYS,
academia, industry and other public and private
partners.
High Road Recognition. . .
 Expansion Management magazine 2006
Mayor’s Challenge – Summer 2006
 Syracuse, NY MSA ranked at 5-Star Business
Opportunity Metro
 “Gold Standard” – awarded to the top 20% of
362 metro areas and cities. This is based on
rankings in Education, Healthcare, Quality of
Life, Logistics, Knowledge Workers and
Business Climate
 Syracuse – one of America’s Hottest Cities
Macro challenges Micro solutions
Most creative workforce
development policies and
practices are being created at
the local, regional and state
levels in the U.S. today.
The success stories are being
created by communities ready
for radically inclusive
collaboration.
Chicago Workforce Board
 The mission of the CWB is to support the vision of Chicago
as a world-class city by ensuring the creation of a
workforce development system that sustains economic
growth and competitiveness by meeting the needs of
employers for qualified workers and expanding
employment opportunities for Chicagoland residents.
 The Board is a non-profit organization with 52 board
members providing a forum where business, labor,
education, government, community-based organizations
and other stakeholders work together to develop
strategies to address the supply and demand of the local
workforce
Dynamic Change is Collaborative
Driving the Local Economy:
The Chicagoland Experience
 130 participants from across the country
 Nine workforce boards, seventeen community
colleges, and local employers in the Chicago
metropolitan region collaborate on the Critical
Skill Shortages Initiative
 CSSI was devised to coordinate strategies to
meet current and projected demands for
qualified workers in critical regional industries.
Center on Wisconsin Strategies
 Growth at the local, regional, and state level
 Creates quality jobs, protects the environment
and ensures that taxpayers get their money’s
worth from public investments
 Promotes job training, plant modernization
 Programs that help firms remain competitive by
meeting skill shortages, improving productivity
 Prepare workers for employment that offers
higher wages, better benefits and opportunities
to advance into satisfying careers.
A rich history of informed collaboration
 COWS has been a key player in
designing and implementing policy
experiments that have attracted
national attention from public officials
and community, business, and labor
leaders.
 Including….
 Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership
 Jobs With a Future
 Milwaukee Jobs Initiative
Power in partnerships. . .
 COWS and partners are proving that
workforce and economic development
systems can be aligned and integrated
with better results for workers, families,
firms, communities and the public sector.
 Success of these experiments
rests on partnerships – among
employers, unions, community-based
organizations and public- sector
institutions, with key roles for
educational institutions at all levels.
Dynamic Change is Collaborative
 Chattanooga, Tennessee
The city has received national
recognition for the
renaissance of its beautiful
downtown and
redevelopment of its
riverfront. Chattanooga was
one of the first U.S. cities to
effectively use a citizen
visioning process to set
specific long-range goals to
enrich the lives of residents
and visitors.
St. Louis Gateway to Collaboration
Region ranks 2nd in the nation in ratio of local
governments to citizens; 3rd in nation in
ratio of metro area municipalities to citizens;
and 2nd in the nation in ratio of school districts
to citizens. . . .
Building bridges
and by-passing obstacles to
regional competitiveness
Growing, creative regions. . .
 People take center stage in new
regional economic development agenda

Quality of place is important to people
who work in innovative, high skilled
industries
 Innovation is not
just the province of entrepreneurs
but also of civic leaders
Susan Christopherson
Champions @ Work
. . . in our Upstate New York Neighborhood
 First the facts
 Quality labor relations
 High performance workplace systems
 Quality workforce and work ethic
 Case studies of collaboration and
innovation
 Champions Network
 A regional advantage
Living Wage . . . and beyond
 Local policies for quality jobs
quality opportunities and
quality of life
 Self-sufficiency projects
 Critical role of education
and training
High Quality Early Care and Education
critical infrastructure for economic development
Investment with a high public return
Children: future workforce
Parents: current workforce and employers
Regions: early childhood education
an important economic sector
In New York:
$2.04 additional economic activity for
every $1.00 spent on child care locally
1.5 other jobs created by every
additional child care job
Restoring the American Dream
 Good jobs are everyone’s responsibility
 Employers
 Employees
 Educators
 Development professionals
 Public officials
We cannot make the transition to a knowledge economy with a
workforce that is stressed, frustrated and insecure. Businesses
need to rebuild relationships with their employees based on
trust. And working families need to take control of their own
destinies.
Tom Kochan
Restoring the American Dream: A Working Families’ Agenda for America
The News about Upstate New York
 We need organizations that value
investors of human capital – their
employees – as highly as they do
investors of financial capital. . . an
agenda for working families in the
21st Century to make the changes
that allow us ALL to benefit from
the new economy.