American Graduate

The National Association of Manufacturers has promised to help train nearly 2 million workers over the next five years to address a worker shortage.

Part of the problem is record low unemployment. Another part is the lack of workers properly trained for the job openings.

Today on All Sides: the disconnect between the jobs and the workforce to fill them.

Ohio is one of six states chosen for a program to increase the upward mobility of adult learners. The goal of the "Educate for Opportunity" project is to train workers for technical and other jobs that are in high demand. 

Ohio’s unemployment rate was down slightly in June. It was an even 4% last month compared to 4.1% in May. Companies in Ohio have jobs that are going unfilled right now.

Ohio’s State Board of Education is preparing to vote on a measure that could open the door to more teaching applicants for career and technical education.

Columbus City Council is rolling out a program to help lower-income students afford trade school or college tuition with less debt.

Miguel Tucker, 30, grew up in Columbus. As a kid, he says, he spent a lot of time around negative influences.

A state senator is touting a new program that he says can play a critical role in college affordability and workforce development by connecting college freshmen with employers.

During an early shift at FedEx, Danavan McIntosh made his way down a tall ladder. He'd done it a million times before. This time, he felt himself falling.

Microsoft plans to train 15,000 people in artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, cloud and data engineering as part of a movement to close the tech skills gap.

The tech giant is looking ahead to 2022 when as many as 133 million new jobs will have been created from new technologies. The problem is finding enough people to fill those roles.

Coming up on Tech Tuesday, we’ll hear about an apprenticeship program at the Columbus branch of Accenture, a professional-service company and consulting firm. 

That’s today on All Sides with Ann Fisher.

Amanda Wisniewski discovered her niche while processing specimens at medical testing company, LabCorp.

“I found what I wanted to do forever, because something just clicked,” she says. “Working on the robotics and fixing the problems, it was the highlight of my day.”

Dashawn Hodge is just a normal 14-year-old boy who hates cutting the grass.

“My mom told me when I get home, I gotta cut the grass,” he says. “I looked at her like, ‘No, I can’t cut the grass!”

Driving a semi-truck is a job that gives you plenty of time to think – too much, actually, for Jordan Washington. He says the job paid well, and it was fun in the beginning until the monotony sunk in.

“But then after a while, I’m just like, 'O.K., I’m bored. This is not for me,’” Washington says.