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Job Training

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With the economy approaching completion of its eighth year of recovery, employers large and small are complaining that they can’t find workers with the right skill sets. Skilled workers in manufacturing, construction, logistics, finance, technology and other industries have been steadily scooped up as the economy has expanded. The result is that more businesses are now spending resources to train people to satisfactorily fill available job openings.

According to a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal and Vistage International, nearly two-thirds of small businesses are spending more time training workers than they were a year ago. This is great news. Not only does workplace training expand America’s supply of human capital, but it means that more employers are open to the idea that they should hire people who are not fully prepared to do the work for which they are being hired.

This means that more people who have been suffering difficulty finding a job are likely to find one – maybe even a really good one. Not coincidentally, the share of small businesses with few or no qualified applicants for job openings hit a seventeen-year high this past November.

Anirban Basu, Chariman Chief Executive Officer of Sage Policy Group (SPG), is one of the Mid-Atlantic region's leading economic consultants. Prior to founding SPG he was Chairman and CEO of Optimal Solutions Group, a company he co-founded and which continues to operate. Anirban has also served as Director of Applied Economics and Senior Economist for RESI, where he used his extensive knowledge of the Mid-Atlantic region to support numerous clients in their strategic decision-making processes. Clients have included the Maryland Department of Transportation, St. Paul Companies, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Players Committee and the Martin O'Malley mayoral campaign.