Consultants Forum Advertise
Subscribe
Close

  • Free for qualified executives and consultants to industry

  • Receive quarterly issues of Area Development Magazine and special market report and directory issues

Subscribe Now
Renew

Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

America’s Top HR Officers Release “Blueprint” for Job Creation in the 21st Century

05/16/2011
A detailed new report providing a comprehensive vision by America's top human resource officers about how to restore America's competitiveness and restore job growth in the U.S. was released recently at a Capitol Hill event in Washington, D.C.

"Blueprint for Jobs in the 21st Century" contains the survey views of 325 HR professionals regarding changes needed in public policy, education, and public perceptions to accelerate job creation in the U.S. HR Policy Association (HRPA) produced the 135-page document, representing 18 months of work. Its members represent the most senior HR executives in more than 325 of America's largest companies. Collectively, the firms employ over 10 million people.

"The magnitude of what occurred during the recent recession is staggering," noted the report's authors in its executive summary. "There were as many jobs lost in the last recession as there were in the previous four recessions. And as America struggles to regain all those lost jobs, the population will still be growing.. Where will those additional job seekers find work? We do not believe that America's current economic situation is a business cycle in which patience and government stimulus can be relied on exclusively to bring down unemployment to acceptable levels. We believe America is experiencing fundamental, long-term, structural economic changes that require long-term policy changes to restore the nation's competitiveness."

At the heart of the report are 20 specific recommendations in the fields of education, workforce development, immigration, regulatory reform, and health care to encourage job growth and employee retention in United States. Most of the recommendations are long-term solutions that address deeply rooted structural challenges.

However, HR officers did provide two ideas which the U.S. government could immediate work on which could result in the hiring of more employees over the next three years.

The first suggestion? "Create a less adversarial, more sensible regulatory environment," said Jeffrey C. McGuiness, HRPA's President & CEO. "Second, there should be strong White House coordination of all the federal education, training, economic development, and workforce regulatory programs to ensure all the dollars and all the activity support employment growth in the private sector. Right now, there is virtually no coordination. Significantly, neither of these two steps would cost the U.S. government a penny to implement."

Relatedly, ManpowerGroup's latest research shows that the U.S. job market demand is sluggish, "and even where there is demand, the skills of available workers and employers' needs are mismatched," explained Mara E. Swan, a HRPA director and Executive VP of Global Strategy and Talent, ManpowerGroup. "This is hindering our global competitiveness and leading to an employability crisis. If the recommendations in Blueprint for Jobs are fully implemented, the U.S. will ensure a job-ready workforce and the vitality of our nation's economy."

Exclusive Research