Currently, the vast majority of the research and reporting available from the Big4 is a lamentation of the workforce issues soon to face a technologically advanced and developed country that will be a first: a lack of skilled labor, with unemployment in the millions.
KPMG's recent release of the book "Designed to Win - Strategies for Building a Thriving Global Business" include a strategy for cultivating the leadership qualities most in demand on the global stage; Deloitte released a report during 2005 "It's 2008: Do You Know Where Your Talent Is?" that examined the expected shortfalls in the labor market over the next few years, as the Baby Boomers begin to retire and graduating percentages in science, engineering and technology fall well short of increasing needs; and lastly, PricewaterhouseCoopers' "Global CEO Survey: Globalisation and Complexity" ranks highly capable people as the most important asset for their workforce.
What do these reports and Bill Gates have in common? Bill Gates, through the Bill Gates Foundation, has funded 1500 experimental US high schools that operate in a completely different environment to the traditional American high school. The schools are smaller, have longer schooldays, and use a different type of personal management system; the students interested in specific areas are given incentives to excel. And it works.
Currently, the US graduates 75,000 students with engineering skills, while India averages about 345,000, and the number is increasing. The US has historically driven sectors such as computer, technology, biology, and aerospace. The new global environment will not see the US with such an edge. Gates explained that "20-25% of American students always do well. What we know must workout is what to do with the other 75%".
It is the remaining 75% that expanding industries, such as the Big4 will need to rely on to fill expansion positions, to fill positions vacated by retiring boomers, and to fill the global need for "capable and qualified" talent. According to Gates, "education and education reform should be a priority for all American corporations and businesses".
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