Too many jobs today have a PR problem, limiting opportunities for our youth and our economy.
The jobs that exist today and the training they require have changed dramatically over the past half century, but our perceptions have not kept up. Think of the manufacturing industry. An industry once synonymous with dirty factory floors, repetitive labor and aggressive offshoring is now a hub for cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and big data analytics. Yet Deloitte discovered that only 4 in 10 Americans would likely encourage their children to pursue a career in manufacturing.
When I was working in Kentucky several years ago, I heard from many parents who were hesitant to let their children go into manufacturing because economic factors had caused them to lose manufacturing jobs. But the manufacturing floor and global dynamics have evolved, and the experiences of their generation may bear little resemblance to modern manufacturing work.
PERCEPTION VERSUS REALITY
Today, reshoring has gained political popularity. Advanced technologies do much of the heavy lifting the most in-demand skills are AI, big data, cybersecurity and creative thinking. Yet the World Economic Forum predicts that nearly half of the 3.8 million new U.S. manufacturing jobs expected by 2033 may remain unfilled. Parents may not know that this is often the case quality jobs that do not require a bachelor’s degree, yet offer high wages, great benefits, and opportunities for post-secondary education and career development, and the employer can cover the costs. While the manufacturing industry is just one example, it covers a wide range of occupations, from cleanroom semiconductor manufacturing to advanced manufacturing of reinforced composite materials used for clean energy sources.
This gap between perception and reality is more than a branding problem: it’s a barrier to opportunity.
And this is not a criticism of parents. It is a recognition that the professionals who help students and their families explore options after high school need more and more compelling information about what is available. If we want to prepare the next generation for a thriving future, we must better communicate the full range of high-quality education, training and career pathways.
COLLEGE FOR EVERYONE?
If the education and working world has promoted one thing well over the past thirty years, it may be the “college for all” movement. This idea led to changes in the classroom, such as plastering pennants on the wall, which raised awareness of the university early on. kindergarten. It led to local investments in groundbreaking college promise programs (the Kalamazoo Promise has been in existence for twenty years) to make college financially accessible to more students.
The surf was perhaps too good. What started as an initiative to ensure that every child, regardless of background, could go to college (for example, by raising awareness and removing barriers), grew into the assumption that every child should go to college. Conversely, many assumed that anyone who did not go to college had failed in some way.
ALTERNATE PATHS
If only other paths to career had equally effective slogans.
The Voices of Gen Z researchrecently published by Gallup, Jobs for the Future and the Walton Family Foundation, found that most parents of high school students say they know “a lot” about just two postsecondary pathways for their child: earning a bachelor’s degree or being gainfully employed. Meanwhile, only about 1 in 10 say they know much about other options, such as completing an internship or apprenticeship, getting a short-term certificate, starting a business or joining the military.
As career paths have changed, the need to better define the skills for success in a rapidly changing economy – and develop an effective PR strategy for the many quality jobs still seen as ‘dirty’ or ‘less than’ – has perhaps never been greater.
Too often, we in the education community have oversimplified a complex space by defining things by what they are not, or by their relationship to other things (usually a four-year degree). Great careers in occupations that require more education than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree are often called “middle-skill” jobs. This reflects the type of education and training the roles require, not the skill level or capabilities required for those fields. Likewise, industry-relevant certificates or certifications that can provide a path to secure, well-paying jobs are called “non-degree credentials.”
While both terms are intended to highlight areas of economics that deserve more attention, they can reinforce the idea that a college degree is the only path to success. They overlook the reality of having a degree doesn’t always mean you get one of those jobs. And they reinforce the artificial either-or route between university and non-university to the labor market.
PUPILS
One area where PR failures are particularly common is apprenticeships. The idea of learning while you earn has attracted growing interest from companies and policy makers alike, but apprenticeships are still struggling to break their historical association with the profession. For example, President Trump’s Executive Order on apprenticeships focuses primarily on skilled trades, despite the growing number of apprenticeships that provide a path to professions such as teaching, firefighting, and advanced manufacturing. Nowadays, more than half of apprenticeships are outside the trade. All of these programs are powerful tools for financial resilience and economic mobility, but only if people know about them.
If we want to solve this PR problem, we need a PR overhaul in the education and employment sectors. We need compelling stories about quality jobsshared terminology that is not university-centric, and stories that reflect the reality of today’s opportunities. We also need to provide better career guidance at an earlier age, so that young people – and their parents – understand all the options available, see the steps needed to get ahead and overcome outdated perceptions. Just as the college for all movement created a shift in thinking, a similar campaign for skills-based, multi-pronged approaches to career development could do the same.
Let’s move toward a world where the new battle cry is about the right path for each person, not the same path. Where internships, apprenticeships, certifications, service programs and entrepreneurship are not seen as fallback options, but as strategic choices tailored to individuals’ strengths and ambitions. Where a bachelor’s degree is one of many valid and valued paths, not the only one.
Maria Flynn is president and CEO of Jobs for the Future.
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