Industry Skill Panels - Talking Points

Maritime trade important to Pacific Northwest

• In 2004, WA ranked third and OR tenth in dollar value of exports per capita
• In WA, 1 in 3 jobs related to trade. Full report

Opportunities for increased trade are high

• Regional outlook; i.e. Canadian connection. Questionnaire
• Canada was Oregon’s number one customer, purchasing $1.8 billion in merchandise goods from the state in 2004. This represented an increase of 20 percent over 2003.
• 63,000 Oregon jobs are supported by Canada-U.S. trade
• Commodities valued at $14.9 billion moved between Washington and Canada in 2004, marking an overall increase of 20 percent in bilateral trade. The Evergreen State sent 12 percent ($3.7 billion) of its total exports to Canada, its second largest export destination.
• 108,000 Washington jobs are supported by Canada-U.S. trade
• World outlook; expected to remain strong and stable in long-term
• Most of world growth appearing in Trans-Pacific region; i.e. China, India,
• Logistic conditions in other West Coast ports help drive traffic to Vancouver/Portland area
• Container congestion in CA ports pushing freight north
• Columbia River ports offer shorter direct access to Asia than any other West Coast port
• One day faster than CA and 10 days faster than U.S. Gulf
• Weak dollar means increased demand for US products
• Higher gasoline prices

Result:

• Port of Portland ranked #35 in the country by value of shipments (2003) at $12 billion, 25.1 percent of which is exports. Data review
• Oregon economic outlook projects 81% increase in commodity traffic at Port of Portland between 2010 and 2030.
• Trucking to have greatest absolute tonnage in this period, followed by rail. Full report
• Ship calls to Port of Vancouver up 12 percent in 2004 with tonnage up 25 percent over 2003. Annual report
• October 2004 ports of Vancouver and Portland signed Intergovernmental Agreement to work together to attract business to the area and improve freight transportation issues
• November 2004 an Advanced Center for Transportation Technologies Skill Panel funded to focus on vessel, truck, rail and air cargo capacities which would enhance the cargo handling through the ports of Vancouver and Portland.

Industry skill panels

• Locally-driven public/private partnerships of business, labor, and education that address immediate or long-term workforce needs for a specific industry
• Alliances working together to improve the skills of new and incumbent workers in industries vital to Washington’s economy

Skill panels:

• encourage companies normally in competition with each other to solve shared human resource problems
• identify and prioritize workforce needs in order to make impacts benefiting many employers across their industry
• reveal what kinds of jobs are emerging in an industry by providing immediate access to employment and skill set information

Then they provide the catalyst for changes in training by

• recommending new training programs where none existed before
• demanding more training capacity when there are not enough graduates to go around
• pressing for modernized training for the industry’s current workforce
• demanding that public training budgets be used strategically

Working together they (i.e. business, labor and educators) then

• produce or update curricula, specific courses, or complete training programs in order to shorten the time it takes to move a student into the workforce
• develop training-related products and activities, such as career guidance materials; vocational English as a Second-Language courses; pre-apprenticeship and K-12 career fairs; mentoring, tutoring and intern/externships; etc.

Industry skill panels not only improving WA’s workforce development system, but also bringing in additional dollars from the federal government, private business, and foundations

• In June 2004 19 industry skill panels leveraged over $40 million in additional funding