When the Mill Closes: Worker Retraining in North Carolinas Community Colleges

1
When the Mill Closes Worker Retraining in North
Carolinas Community Colleges

• H. Martin Lancaster
• President
• North Carolina Community College System
• www.nccommunitycolleges.edu

2
North Carolina Community College System

• Began with Industrial Education Centers to
  retrain farm to factory workforce
• In 1963, reorganized as unified system
• Today, fifty-eight comprehensive community
  colleges enrolling more than 800,000 North
  Carolinians a year
• Third-largest community college system in the
  United States
• Retraining for factory to pharma

3
Economic ChangesShocks to Manufacturing

• Foreign trade agreements, shift to
  knowledge-based industries, corporate mergers,
  fluctuations in technology market cause drastic
  and continuing change, eliminating low-skilled
  jobs
• 1970 Manufacturing workforce was 30 percent of
  states total
• Today 17 percent
• Last year, manufacturing declined 12.2 percent
• Rural areas lose most

4
Changes in Workforce Skills Needs Across Fifty
Years
Unskilled 12
Skilled 20
Professional 20
Skilled 68
Unskilled 60
Professional 20
1955
2005
5
Career Readiness Certification Overview

• Community College System Partnership with 24
  local workforce development boards
• Portable credential to certify core employability
  skills important across industries and
  occupations reading, applied math, locating
  information
• One part of statewide credentialing system based
  on WorkKeys
• Bronze, Silver, Gold levels to document
  progressive skills

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High Praise for Retraining

• "No one disputes the notion that with North
  Carolina having faced the loss of tens of
  thousands of manufacturing jobs over the last few
  years, the community colleges are the key to
  retraining those who lost their jobs and getting
  them back in the workforce."
• Editorial
• The News and Observer, November 10, 2004

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WIA Funding Critical Factor

• Workforce Investment Act (WIA) vital federal
  funds for training/retraining efforts
• Proposed 325 million rescission in current year
  will mean fewer workers retrained

8
Case Study Pillowtex

• Created from merger of two historic NC textile
  corporations Cannon Mills and Fieldcrest
• Bankruptcy in July 2003 largest manufacturing
  shutdown in NC history

Photo by Ben McNeely, Independent-Tribune
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Pillowtex Jobs Lost

• Company- wide layoffs 7,650
• Layoffs in North Carolina 4,790
• Cabarrus County residents laid off 2,592
• Rowan County residents laid off 1,392
• Balance in surrounding counties and in
  Rockingham County, former Fieldcrest area

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Pillowtex Who lost jobs?Rowan-Cabarrus CC
service area

• Almost 50 percent had not completed high school
• Average age 46
• 59 percent women
• Average weekly wage 458
• 42 percent had a relative at Pillowtex

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Pillowtex Immediate local needs

• 70 percent unwilling or unable to relocate
• 93 percent couldnt afford health insurance
• Within one month of layoff, 43 percent behind in
  rent/mortgage, more than 10 percent facing
  eviction

12
National Emergency Grant (DOL) Partners

• North Carolina Community College System
• N.C. Employment Security Commission
• Division of Employment and Training
• Centralina Workforce Development Board
• Rowan County Job Link Center
• Cabarrus County Job Link Center
• Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

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Rowan-Cabarrus CC Outreach

• College enrolled 1,921 (49) of Pillowtex
  eligibles residing in Rowan and Cabarrus
  counties.
• College staff provided to 3,184 (86) of the
  population other direct services including, but
  not limited to
• DISCOVER and placement testing
• Job-seeking skills workshops
• Seminars
• Referrals to other agencies
• Resume assistance

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Rowan-Cabarrus CC Outcomes

• 457 of 730 (46) of Pillowtex students enrolled
  in curriculum (for-credit) programs have
  graduated or will complete programs by the end of
  2006. Four designated outstanding students
• 245 out of 536 (46) of Pillowtex enrollees in
  GED completed their credentials
• 449 students enrolled in short-term training
  programs through Continuing Education and HRD.
• 206 enrolled in English as a Second Language.

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Rowan-Cabarrus CC Outcomes (contd)

• Many clients enrolled in technical and trade
  programs previously under-enrolled where
  employers cited high demand for entry-level jobs
  (machining, automotive, welding, electrical,
  electronics, heating and air conditioning)
• Recent telephone surveys substantiate that some
  clients are finding work though there is evidence
  of continued unemployment and under-employment.

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Satisfied Students
If you had it to do all over again, would you
attend Rowan-Cabarrus CC? Yes
95.1 Would you recommend Rowan-Cabarrus CC
to another person? Yes 98.4
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Next steps, new hope Preparing for Pharma on
the old mill site

• North Carolina Research Campus Murdock/Dole
  Foods partnership with major universities and
  community colleges for research, product
  development in biotechnology, one of NCs
  fastest-growing sectors
• 5,000 biotechnology high-wage jobs projected for
  Research Campus
• Additional 30,000 infrastructure jobs are
  anticipated to support Research Campus.

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Rowan-Cabarrus CC Roles

• Plans underway for joint-use Rowan-Cabarrus CC
  facility on the NC Research Campus site
• Collaboration with Gaston College and Central
  Piedmont CC to offer AAS Biotechnology Consortium
  Degree started fall 2006
• BioWork continuing education classes started fall
  2006
• College sponsored educational forums in four
  counties spring 2006.

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Research Campus jobs for Pillowtex veterans?

• Opportunities
• Most jobs related to the campus are NOT in
  biotechnology research but in infrastructure on
  and off campus
• Older dislocated workers not likely to aspire to
  become research scientists or research
  technicians.
• With proper support and training, dislocated
  workers can qualify for infrastructure jobs
• Given their demonstrated work ethic and
  commitment to task, dislocated workers are
  desirable potential employees

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When the Mill Closes Worker Retraining in North
Carolinas Community Colleges

• H. Martin Lancaster
• President
• North Carolina Community College System
• www.nccommunitycolleges.edu