Report: Iowa needs ‘middle-skills’ workers

Iowa employers face a mounting shortage of workers with needed post-high-school credentials shy of a bachelor's degree, a new state report says.

About 50 percent of the jobs in Iowa's labor markets are “middle-skill” jobs but only 33 percent of the state's work force is in that range, according to the report from Iowa Workforce Development. Middle-skill jobs are defined as those requiring an apprenticeship, associate degree, technical certification or in-depth employer-provided training.

Iowa doesn't have enough middle-skill workers, the report said, because the job categories requiring them have grown faster than the supply of workers with more than a high school education. That situation is likely to worsen, according to Iowa Workforce Development, as more baby boomers retire and the economic recovery gains strength.

Ron Dengler, owner of Batteries Plus on Blairs Ferry Road NE in Cedar Rapids, has seen the middle-skills gap firsthand. His staff has been trying for more than six months without success to hire an outside sales specialist.

Dengler said the job does not require a bachelor's degree, although technical training in the electrical field or sales experience would help. Batteries Plus renewed online help-wanted advertisements last week and received only three applicants for the position, which starts at $9 an hour during an initial training period but could easily pay $35,000 or more per year once the hire is up to full speed.

“It's difficult to find the personality. We've got the opportunity,” Dengler said.

That Iowa is facing a midrange skills gap is not a surprise, said Kim Johnson, Kirkwood Community College's vice president of continuing education and training services.

A skills assessment that Kirkwood provides job seekers has found that 66 percent of the unemployed or underemployed people looking for work have no recognized educational or training credentials past high school.

“It's becoming more evident as we're beginning to see more of a tightening in the applicant pool,” Johnson said. “It could be because there's been an uptick in the economy, or because people who have been unemployed for a long time are not looking.”

Simply increasing the number of Iowa high school graduates who obtain post-high-school degrees and certifications won't be enough to fill the skills gap, according to the report. It says Iowa will have to find ways to upgrade more skills of mid-career and late-career workers so that they can qualify for jobs.

Computer skills are one of the biggest areas of concern in the mid-skills area, Johnson said. When job seekers were asked to rate their computer skills on the assessment, about 26 percent rated themselves near the bottom of a five-point scale on computer skills.

Iowa's recovery in the manufacturing sector is one of the main areas driving demand for mid-skill workers, the report said. While manufacturing jobs once required little education, the report said changing job requirements in manufacturing increasingly mean a high school degree won't be enough to qualify for jobs.

Mid-skill occupations expected to grow rapidly in the Corridor through 2018 include dental assistants, at an annual growth rate of 3.7 percent, fitness trainers and aerobics instructors, at an annual growth rate of 3.5 percent, compliance officers, at an annual growth rate of 3.4 percent, and medical assistants, at an annual growth rate of 3.4 percent.

The top occupational categories for growth are computer and mathematical occupations, community and social service occupations, and health care support occupations, according to the Iowa Workforce Development report.