Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 25, 1995                   TAG: 9501260056
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JOB SKILLS CALLED LACKING

That was the word from a panel assembled Tuesday by the New Century Council to discuss the job market in the year 2000 and beyond. The council plans a wide-ranging report May 1 with recommendations on the future direction of the valleys' eight counties and three cities.

Tuesday's meeting, the first in a series of briefings for the media, made clear that schools will be called upon to better prepare young people for tomorrow's jobs. Too many lack hands-on technical skills and problem-solving abilities increasingly needed in the workplace, panelists agreed.

While making clear she did not want to criticize educators, Marjorie Skidmore, executive director of the Roanoke office of the Virginia Employment Commission, offered a bleak assessment of the typical high school graduate who comes to her office for help finding a job.

"Many of them have nothing they can do," Skidmore said.

While such concerns are not new, employers are more troubled than ever with the shortcomings they see in job applicants' backgrounds, Beverly Fitzpatrick, director of the council, said after the meeting.

"The rest of the world is producing people who can critically think and that is what is lacking in our institutions today," Abdul Turay, chairman of the economics department at Radford University, told the meeting.

Turay later estimated that 50 percent of college graduates lack the sort of mental skills needed to negotiate a contract. He said the problem has worsened since the "baby boomer" generation left college.

The problem is, employees more and more need higher thinking skills to use and understand technology at work. That's in contrast to 30 years ago, when many jobs involved performing repetitive tasks, Skidmore said.

Key industries will continue to be manufacturing, services and retail and wholesale trade, according to the panel. Health care and communication hold special promise for providing high-tech jobs in this area, said Glynn Loope, director of the Allegheny Economic Commission.

Loope is reminded of the need for job training whenever he considers his 1-year-old daughter. "Everything that child is going to need to know to get a job has not been invented yet," he said.

The school curriculum of tomorrow, panelists agreed, should include more access to vocational training, studies that develop thinking skills and stimulation that prods students to consider a career path earlier.

Without those steps, "What's at risk is to have an underclass of people that are not competitive," said panelist Carl McDaniels, who runs a career guidance program at Virginia Tech.