WESSON – Government, business and education leaders who attendeda luncheon at Copiah-Lincoln Community College Thursday got alesson in workforce training from the man who sits atop theprocess.

Eric Clark, executive director of the Mississippi State Boardfor Community and Junior Colleges, spoke about the necessity ofworkforce training in community colleges in the 21st century at the17th Annual Co-Lin Business and Industry Appreciation Luncheon.

“The reason I applied for this job was because of thefundamental role community colleges have in moving our economyforward,” Clark said. “It’s something I have studied and worked onfor a long, long time.”

Clark told the audience that he was “tuned in” to how economicdevelopment in Mississippi can be improved. The advancement ofindustry recruiting in the state has been a decades-long missionfor Clark, who spent 16 years in the Legislature and 12 years assecretary of state.

Clark quoted a list of statistics from agencies such as the U.S.Department of Labor to show how critical a trained workforce is inrecruiting industries.

According to the statistics, 60 percent of all jobs in 1950could be accomplished by unskilled workers. In modern times,however, only 15 percent of jobs can be accomplished by unskilledworkers – 60 percent of available jobs require skilled workers.

“One of the great challenges facing the people of Mississippi isthat we need to have an educated, trained workforce, and communitycolleges are the primary vehicles for doing that,” Clark said.

Clark gave a brief explanation of how the state had fallenbehind in workforce training over the years by dividing the state’seconomic history in three phases.

For generations since the end of the Civil War, the state’seconomy was “flat on its back” and entrenched in agriculture, hesaid. The Balance Agriculture With Industry Act of 1936, whichallowed citizens of a given municipality to construct and equipbuildings to attract industry, began the successful secondphase.

“That act was how we got a lot of our first industries,” Clarksaid. “In the 1940s, we began attracting industries from the North,and the classic example of that was small town garment plants. Wewere successful in attracting low-wage, low-capital industries tothe South.”

Phase two was bolstered by the Second World War, which broughtwar industries to the South. Clark said Mississippi continued onthis track until 1980, when the third phase began with industriesgoing overseas.

“It took away the economic base we had been building for 50years,” Clark said. “Now, for the first time, we can’t just workhard – we have to work smart. For the first time, we need aneducated populace to attract and keep industries in the state – wedidn’t have to do it two generations ago. We didn’t have to do itone generation ago.”

Clark said the U.S. Department of Labor has predicted that bythe year 2020 there will have been a 320 percent increase in thenumber of jobs that require skilled workers, and 21 million peoplewill have to have a high level of training – provided by two-yearcolleges.

“Skilled workers are defined as those having at least two yearsof education beyond high school,” Clark said. “Does that soundfamiliar?”

While the training of the state’s workforce is not yet at thedesired level, the process is becoming more widespread. Clark saidthere were 160,000 people currently being trained specifically formodern industries in the two-year college system, and 275,000Mississippians – 10 percent of the state population – are trainedin any given year.

“It’s a phenomenal statistic that almost no one knows,” Clarksaid. “It is my belief that, oftentimes, in terms of publicawareness and awareness by the Legislature, community colleges arenot understood to be the useful tool they are.”

Later, Clark shared his views on how to further improve thetwo-year college system and provide workforce training for evenmore of the state’s population.

“We have to have adequate funding and strong accountability,” hesaid. “I’ve said this for 30 years – adequate funding and goodresults. Citizens will support the funding if they see theresults.”