Author: Christopher A. Brown

If you listen only to the political rhetoric about the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs in the U.S., you’d think our nation faces a crisis of historic proportion, especially for workers without a Bachelor’s Degree.

The fact is the loss of 2.8 million manufacturing jobs has more than been offset by a gain of 4 million jobs in skilled services industries, such as healthcare and finance. Some 30 million workers without a college degree (40 percent of all workers without a college degree) have good-paying jobs with a median annual income of $55,000. And although many of these jobs have shifted from manufacturing to skilled services, manufacturing and transportation jobs still house the bulk of them.

These data come from a recent report that sheds a brighter and more complete light on what’s happened in the U.S. job market in recent years. It provides vital knowledge for organizations that serve dads who are unemployed or underemployed, or who are employed in low-paying jobs. Many of these dads lack a college or even high school degree. As the report points out, even good-paying manufacturing jobs now require at least an Associate’s Degree.

The bottom line is dads need education and training in the knowledge and skills required to land today’s good-paying jobs. And that’s where more good news for organizations that serve dads is about to arrive in the form of GoodJobs.org, a website that will launch this fall. It will include data on where these jobs are concentrated at the national and state levels, and by industry and occupation. You’ll be able to see how available these jobs are, and where they’re located, relative to your service area and community.

In the meantime, here are some tips you can apply to boost your and your co-workers’ knowledge in this critical subject:

  • Download and read the report. Share it with your co-workers.
  • Watch this short animated video that summarizes what’s happened with good-paying jobs. Share the link with your co-workers. Show it to the dads you serve.
  • Sign up for updates from GoodJobs.org so you will know when the full website launches. (You’ll find the sign up area at the bottom of the blue box on the right side of the page.)
  • Build relationships with community colleges and vocational training schools in your area that can educate and train dads. These institutions have seen growth in recent years because of their ability to rapidly educate and train workers for today’s good-paying jobs. The best of them have connections with employers in their community that funnel students into jobs.

How aware are you of where the good-paying jobs are in your community?

How well do you provide or connect dads to education and training in the knowledge and skills they need for good-paying jobs?

This article appeared originally on the National Fatherhood Initiative website.