The Top 5 States for Workforce Quality Continue to Invest in their Human Capital

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Leading Chief Executive’s Top Five States for Workforce Quality is New Hampshire. The Granite State also once again received an “A” grade for human capital on the 2016 Manufacturing & Logistics Report Card by the Ball State Center for Business and Economic Research.

“No factor matters more to businesses than the quality and availability of labor,” the report’s authors wrote. They noted that, “Workers represent the largest single cost of doing business, but, more importantly, they are the source of most innovation and process improvements that distinguish successful firms from those that are not successful.”

Iowa Workforce Development and other statewide organizations are piloting a new “pre-apprenticeship” program in several schools across the Hawkeye State, to help secondary students meet the basic qualifications for entry into one or more registered apprenticeship programs within the state. The system has been boosted by a $1.8 million ApprenticeshipUSA State Expansion grant by the U.S. Department of Labor.

“No factor matters more to businesses than the quality and availability of labor.”

According to a survey of employers in the Beehive State by the Utah Foundation, a quarter recognized “Utah’s work ethic as the best quality of its labor force.” Nearly two-thirds (60%) of employers that also had operations in other states said that their Utah employees were more productive. A majority (89%) of employers with an out-of-state presence said that that their Utah employees had about the same or better education than their out-of-state employees.

In the great state of Texas, The University of Texas-Arlington’s College of Engineering is among the top 75 graduate programs in America, according to U.S. News & World Report. In October, the university broke ground on its Science and Engineering Innovation and Research building, which will be the signature research facility for life and health science research at UTA. Each of the 12 research labs will accommodate multiple teams in a wide range of fields, from biology to bioengineering to computational research to nursing and kinesiology.

The Idaho PTECH Network has partnered with student coach organization and career center InsideTrack, to provide rural high school students in the Gem State with personalized support and valuable professional and technical skills that will lead to employment in the state’s high-growth industries. From their mobile phones or other digital devices, students can message their coach, ask important questions and get immediate responses, and have access to informative videos or resources to explore promising career pathways aligned to their personal interests.