Study examines work-force gaps

Changes urged for community colleges

North Carolina's community colleges provide the fastest and most cost-effective way for the state to meet its critical work-force shortages in nursing, teaching and biotechnology, a new study says.

In order for the state's 58 community colleges to step up the production of workers in these fields, though, changes are needed to help the colleges meet their full potential, says the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research corporation. The report, to be released today, is the third in a series of studies on the future of the state's community colleges.

Among the recommended changes, the study calls for better salaries for community college faculty, more money for high-demand training programs and removal of barriers by the State Board of Education for community college students pursuing teaching licenses. More can be accomplished, the center said, when community colleges tackle work-force shortages through partnerships with UNC campuses, the business community, private foundations and the legislature.

North Carolina's economy is moving away from the three-legged stool of textiles, tobacco and furniture. The center likens the new economy to a ladder of service-based jobs with missing rungs in the middle.

The fastest growing occupations in North Carolina include registered nurses, home health aides, truck drivers, nursing aides and elementary school teachers, the report said.

"We concluded that the community colleges have the ability to bridge the gaps in the ladder," said Mebane Rash Whitman, a lawyer and editor of the center's journal, North Carolina Insight.

The state's community colleges are positioned to meet the needs, Whitman said, because they are affordable, they serve more than 800,000 students, and they can meet regional shortages by educating people in their home communities.

"When teachers and nurses are homegrown, when they are educated near home, they tend to stay in the area," Whitman said.

Nursing deficit looms

The state will face a predicted shortage of 9,000 nurses by 2015 and nearly 18,000 by 2020, the study said. Community colleges already produce 68 percent of the state's registered nurses. All colleges in the state, public and private, produce about 3,400 nursing graduates each year, but the state needs 2,400 more graduates annually, the report said.

Similarly, the state must replace about 10,000 public school teachers a year because of retirements and resignations. UNC campuses produce nearly 4,000 a year, but the state will need about 6,500 additional graduates in teacher education each year.

The report said policy changes are necessary so more community college students can become trained and fully licensed for a teaching career.

Low faculty salaries inhibit community colleges from meeting the state's needs, the report said. The average full-time community college faculty member earns about $41,000, ranking North Carolina 46th in the country. The center recommends that the legislature appropriate money to lift those salaries to the national average.