Author: Michael Bernick

This week’s F&H employment posting is a call for ideas
from California’s workforce  and
employment community. It arises from a long-running discussion with  Dr. Lou Vismara.

Dr. Lou is described by more than a few Sacramento
residents, following the well-known Dos Equis beer ad,  as the most interesting man in Sacramento,
due to his wide range of scientific, business and social endeavors  (see "Stay
thirsty my friends").  A prominent
cardiologist, graduate of Stanford with an MD from Baylor College of Medicine, Dr.
Lou changed careers in 2000, a few years after his son Mark was diagnosed with
autism. Dr. Lou retired from interventional cardiology to work full-time on
child development and autism issues with the Office of the President of the
California Senate, where he continues today.

The monthly state job numbers released last Friday showed
a dramatic increase in payroll jobs in California. Payroll employment jumped by
96,500 jobs. This increase amounted to more than half of all jobs created
nationwide.

How real is this increase? What caused it? What have been
the causes of previous recoveries in California employment following major
recessions?

In January I did a posting on the latest jobs projections by
EDD, indicating that the great majority of jobs in California’s future will not
be the heralded "knowledge jobs". As is the case today in California’s job
structure, the majority of job openings in the next decade are projected to be
the personal and home care aides, retail salespersons, cashiers, food
preparation and serving workers, registered nurses, customer service repress,
office clerks and laborers, With the exception of registered nurses, all of
these occupational categories have 2010 median wages below $30,000.

The posting brought several inquiries concerning the
relationship of California’s workforce system to this projected job structure.
What if any policies might improve the wages and mobility of workers in these
jobs? What is the role of the local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) in trying
to influence the structure of jobs in California as well as the skills of
workers?

The state job numbers announced last Friday showed a net
payroll job gain of 12,500 jobs. This is not a lot  compared to total California payroll jobs of
nearly 14 million. However, this job gain constituted nearly 20% of the 63,000
net payroll jobs added throughout the entire United States.

We are likely on the road back to payroll job growth in
California, though it will be a long and winding road, given the extent of
payroll job losses since 2006 of over 1.4 million payroll jobs, and the
obstacles ahead. Beginning on the plus side, several sectors that have been
struggling showed growth, particularly construction and manufacturing.

Within the job training world, there are those  writers who receive far more attention in the
media than they deserve (Robert Reich), and those that receive far less. Timothy
Bartik is among the latter. An economist with the Upjohn Institute for
Employment Research in Michigan, Bartik’s work is consistently characterized by
serious research and original thought.  Over
the past  decade he has written a series
of articles and book s on labor
demand policies, wage
subsidies, and  a national
job creation tax credit.  

Bartik’s latest work focuses on early childhood programs,
and their link to a region’s job growth. This work arises in part his own
experience as a school board member in Kalamazoo Michigan, from 2000-2008. In
this capacity, he had opportunity to observe pre-school programs, particularly
those focused on low-income families, in the context of allocating limited Kalamazoo
School District resources. 

Former New York Times columnist William Safire from
time to time told this chestnut from the early 1950s about Princess Margaret
and the matchmaker:  A Jewish matchmaker
had the idea of matching up poor Sammy-a nebbish and a schlemiel–with Princess
Margaret then the world’s most eligible woman. Sammy’s mother would not hear of
it: the Princess could not cook and was not Jewish. After weeks of persuading,
with the matchmaker showing how the alliance with British royalty would help
Israel, the mother gave her grudging approval. The matchmaker heaved a sigh of
relief and said, "Now for the hard part".

The work-based reality shows, including Cake Boss, Pickers, Pimp My Ride, and America’s Next Top Model
have much to teach us about craft, calling and California’s economy. The
workers in these shows are not the "knowledge workers" we hear so much about.
They are the bakery workers, car shop workers, restaurant workers and small
businesspeople who will be prevalent in California’s employment future. They
bring innovation, care for detail,  and a
service ethos to their jobs.

Buddy Velasco 
is the Cake Boss. As viewers of his reality show on TLC network know,
Buddy runs a bakery in Hoboken New Jersey. The bakery, Carlo’s Bake Shop  has a baking and sales crew of nearly 30,
including Buddy’s mother, four sisters and three brothers-in-law

The state Employment Development Department (EDD) periodically issues 10-year projections of fastest growing occupations in California and occupations with highest number of job openings. The most recent projections show some of the “knowledge” jobs among the fastest growing jobs in California. But the jobs with the greatest job openings remain the low tech, largely unglamorous jobs as personal and home aides, customer service representatives, waiters and waitresses, and retail salespersons.

Below is the chart of the 10 fastest growing occupations in California. Though issued in 2010, the projections cover the period 2008-2018.

The California Conservation Corps (CCC) will be 35 years old
this year. It is going strong and in fact is poised to expand. Its experience
is most relevant to a debate in California workforce circles today: what are
the needed job skills in the emerging California economy, and how young
Californians can best achieve these skills.  

The Corps was founded by Jerry Brown in July 1976, who
described it as "a combination Jesuit seminary, Israeli kibbutz and Marine
Corps boot camp." It sought to bring together California youth of various
backgrounds, income levels and races. The youth would be placed in residential
settings, outside of urban areas, and put to work on conservation tasks that were
real work: fire containment, trail construction, stream restoration, tree
planting. In this work, the youth would contribute to the California community,
and also develop the skills to navigate in the job world and in life.