The leader of the Kentucky Chamber made a lot of solid points during a briefing at Bellefonte Country Club on Tuesday.
The Chamber's Chief Executive Officer, Dave Adkisson, said the most pressing issue facing the state's business community is a shortage of skilled workers for the positions now available in today's economy.
"It is the dominant theme we hear from big businesses and small businesses," Adkisson said. "The quantity of workers and the quality of skills that employees need. It is a huge issue and I don't see it going away anytime soon. The economy, fortunately, is expanding. More people, more jobs. Baby boomers are retiring to the tune of 10,000 per day in this country."
Interestingly Adkisson said a solution to this problem of a lack of workers with the needed skills requires the state of Kentucky to invest in education. We agree. The fact of the matter is, if you were to go on to the job boards today and look for the high-paying jobs that give you a legitimate chance to pay your bills, support your family and save a little, they mostly boil down to four four skill sets: math, science, technology and the trades. Unfortunately writing is not on the list.
With this said, we as a nation need to ask ourselves: are our students walking out of our educational institutions with enhanced skills in math, science, technology or the trades? The answer is some are. Many, though, are not and there is room for improvement. In fact in many states schools have a tough time even finding teachers to teach the subjects of math and science. All of this points to the need for a radical new approach that greatly enhances funding and investment in education.
Adkisson said a chamber organized task force came up with several recommendations including further investing in preschool. Adkisson said the state can also make great strides by "Reinvent(ing) high school to make a diploma relevant for the modern economy. Insure every adult obtains a marketable degree or credential and engage employers to define needed skills and develop talent."
These all sound like solid recommendations for us.
There were some ideas we heard from the chamber that we don't agree with. One in particular involves raising the gas tax and raising vehicle registration fees to fund roads, bridges and infrastructure. We agree infrastructure needs money but the pension crisis continues to be the number one priority for the Legislature and the governor. Until this is fixed, and we know what it is going to take, raising taxes on other fronts is a no go for us. All of this points to, again, the need for a thoughtful bipartisan approach to revenues versus expenses in the state. Fix pensions first, in full, before touching roads. Otherwise you are once again piecemealing solutions and the taxpayer gets a beat down.
Other ideas from the chamber we agreed with regarding the best interests of business are modernizing the Kentucky unemployment insurance system and improving Kentucky's legal liability climate -- making it harder to file frivolous lawsuits.
These seem to be common sense ideas to us that enhance the ability for businesses small and large to do business in Kentucky, which in turn means more jobs for our residents.
