On October 31, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce released a new report on the state’s workforce that raises a red flag concerning our competitive edge in workforce talent.  The study, Greater Boston’s Challenge: Sustaining the Talent Advantage identifies weaknesses in our workforce development pipeline, and makes five recommendations to ensure we solidify this strength. 

The Chamber’s report complements a research report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on The Future of the Skilled Labor Force in New England: The Supply of Recent College Graduates.  The Chamber and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston convened area leaders in September to discuss that report, which investigated the factors that affect the stock of recent college graduates in the region.

The report makes five recommendations, which the Chamber will work to implement through legislative advocacy and coordinated efforts with the employer community:

• Increase STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) teachers, students, and graduates by instituting a differentiated pay system for teachers, and by expanding fellowships and mentoring programs.
• Reform federal H1-B visas by lifting overly-restrictive limits on the number of highly-educated foreign workers our employers can recruit from other countries.
• Expand work-based internships by using job fairs and internship summits to convene a critical mass of students and employers, and by creating better online opportunities to fit student talent with employer needs.
• Implement Governor Patrick’s Readiness Project initiatives that enable more students to complete college, by expanding the number of Early College High Schools, increasing participation in dual high school and college enrollment programs, and guaranteeing course credit transfers among public higher education institutions.
• Create additional job opportunities for talented graduates by making Massachusetts business costs more competitive through legislation, regulatory changes, and innovations in the way business services are delivered.  That will promote job creation, which will draw more graduates to Greater Boston.