What Happened to US Air?

Five years ago Pittsburgh received some particularly bad economic news -- US Airways announced that it planned to lay off a significant number of workers. Politicians and community leaders scrambled to respond and promises for worker assistance were made. So what happened to the former US Airways workers? In a few weeks, the Institute of Politics will release a "Case in Point" publication that looks at how our region's workforce system responded to these layoffs. There's a story on the topic in last weekend's Tribune Review. http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_467929.html One of the most striking "lessons learned" is the fact that our workforce system does not do a very robust job tracking its own performance. Thus, we have insufficient data about who we served, how we served them and what happened as a result.

Picture This

A large auditorium is filled with high school students. They're beginning a week of healthcare career exploration activities. They shout out the names of the healthcare professions they know. “Doctor!” “Nurse!” “Dentist!” The lights dim and the students see picture of an emergency room. Text appears above the people in the picture, identifying their job and regional labor statistics. “What’s a radiology tech?” one student asks. “What’s an Associate’s degree?” asks another. With a look of shock, a girl in the front row whispers, “Those numbers can’t be right. I thought everyone in healthcare was rich.”

This is the scene that HCPI's speakers experience on a regular basis. In our brief presentations, we are often able to answer these questions. But if it's a good conversation, additional questions may arise at a later date. What are we going to do to ensure that there's someone available to continue this conversation?