Image courtesy of The Detroit Regional Chamber
The Detroit Regional Chamber has recently published its highly anticipated 2024 State of Education and Talent report, offering an in-depth analysis of the region’s progress in educational attainment and the evolving landscape of the talent pipeline. This comprehensive report highlights critical data on regional, statewide, and national trends, examining key metrics such as college enrollment rates, workforce readiness, and the persistent talent shortages impacting high-demand industries.
By combining fresh insights with long-term trends, the report sheds light on the challenges and opportunities shaping education and workforce development, providing a valuable resource for policymakers, educators, and industry leaders.
The report also incorporates findings from two key research projects conducted in partnership with The Glengariff Group, Inc. One project involved a detailed survey of high school parents to understand their views on higher education. At the same time, the other featured a focus group with high school students to explore their attitudes and experiences with post-secondary education.
These studies reveal significant themes and contrasting perspectives between parents and students, offering a nuanced look at how each group values and approaches higher education. The findings highlight the complex dynamics influencing educational decisions and aspirations in the region.
This report is an important tool in assessing the Detroit Region’s progress toward its 60% by 2030 post-high school educational attainment goal – a goal set by the Chamber that is more important than ever as economic prosperity is increasingly tied to the population’s level of education.
The business community and the Chamber are well aware of this, and to better reflect this landscape and encompass the organization’s robust portfolio of education and talent programs, it is unveiling a new, overarching brand for this work: TalentEd.
The brand merges the concepts of “Talent” and “Education” to effectively convey to the business community its role in collaboration with the Chamber. It emphasizes the importance of working together to develop a strong talent pipeline that addresses the specific needs of employers.
This initiative aims to equip the workforce with the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in today’s competitive environment by fostering partnerships and providing targeted educational opportunities.
The Data
The Chamber’s Greg Handel lead the conversation with a handful of the report’s takeaways:
- Adults returning to college will be a key factor in reaching the 60% by 2030 educational attainment goal set by the Chamber in 2015. Post-high school educational attainment in the Detroit Region has increased by three percentage points since 2018. However, more than 300,000 individuals must earn an associate degree or higher to meet the 60% by 2030 goal.
- An equity gap in educational attainment still exists, with the rate for Black or African American adults at 41.6% and white adults at 56.2%. Further, Black or African American students account for 13% of total degree completions despite making up 21% of the Detroit Region’s adult population.
- Talent demand is outpacing degree completions. Industries such as accounting, IT, and nursing are particularly falling short of meeting the increased demand for qualified workers.
“The ramifications of this are very simple: Employers will grow or locate to regions that have the talent needed to fill their positions,” Handel said.
“If we don’t have that talent, (employers) won’t grow or locate here.”
Director of Education and Employment at Rocket Community Fund, Marvin Logan Jr. highlighted the importance of clarifying corporate opportunities and identifying the obstacles to accessing them.
“Invite other companies to find innovative ways to find the talent because it’s out there. There are so many things that get in between that journey from point A to point B, and hyper-investing in the middle part of that journey is how you get persistent to graduation,” Logan Jr. said.
“And then let’s make sure, we do the work to continue to build bridges so that there’s something waiting there for them, and that is something else again.”
The Chamber’s 60% by 2030 educational attainment goal is more important than ever as economic prosperity is increasingly tied to the population’s level of education. The Chamber’s TalentEd program is designed to better communicate to the business community about building a robust talent pipeline that meets employers’ needs.
To view the fifth annual State of Education and Talent report, visit detroitchamber.com.
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