Skills Gap

USC’s Andrea Belz walks through a new study that highlights a gap in the number of students majoring in disciplines required for advanced chip-making jobs.

An oversaturated market is hard on workers with and without degrees.

The program is relatively expensive but serves a demographic with few options.

You’re more likely to see work boots than Patagonia vests, but technology is also transforming this farming region near Silicon Valley.

Nadia Olivos, who tends strawberry and raspberry plants at the farm she works at, is finishing up her AgTEC Workforce classes, which aim to give students a leg up in agriculture technology-focused careers.

Reza Ehsani, mechanical engineering professor at the University of California, Merced, is one of the professors guiding students to research and develop agriculture tech that could be commercialized.

Drew Ketelsen, vice president and farm manager at HMC Farms, says adopting the latest in agtech has created a safer work environment for field workers, and it has added efficiency to the day-to-day.

Six-figure operator jobs at Gulf Coast chemical plants require certain mechanical skills that have fallen out of vogue in an increasingly digital world.

More than a fifth of welders in the U.S. are over the age of 55. Demand for new ones is expected to increase.

Certificates can be a faster and more specialized route to the workforce than a bachelor’s or associate degree for some students.