Office of Governor Gary Locke
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 29, 2000
Contact:  Governor's Communications Office, 360-902-4136

Locke convenes Governor's Technology Workforce Summit to close high tech skills gap

TACOMA - Gov. Gary Locke today called upon the state's leading educators, industry leaders and government officials to close the high tech skills gap to help more Washingtonians share in the state's prosperity.

Leading a group of more than 200 educators, business people, legislators and other government leaders, along with students from Tacoma's Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Bates Technical College and the University of Washington Tacoma, the governor emphasized the need for more and better trained workers for the new economy.

"We need to create a real partnership in this state among government, educators and industry -- a partnership which can provide our high tech industries with skilled workers who meet the standards of their industry," Locke said. "When we fill these jobs, we also fill the lives of our citizens with hope and promise. Everybody shares in the wealth."

The high tech industry is Washington's largest, fastest growing and highest paying industry. In the past five years, household median income in this state has jumped 20 percent and much of that growth has been driven by the tech industry. Forty percent of the total wage growth in the past five years is earned directly through high tech companies.

A skills shortage, however, could threaten that growth. Last year, more than 3,000 of those jobs were filled by citizens of other countries holding special visas. A similar number of jobs were filled by people from out of state, and twice that number of jobs went unfilled altogether, he noted.

The summit generated consensus around 10 priorities for closing the skills gap, which the governor will focus into a package for the next legislative session. His intentions are to:

Increase the capacity of Washington's universities to graduate more students with bachelor's and graduate degrees in computer and engineering fields;

Expand community college technology programs;

Elevate high school students' interest and abilities in science, math and communications; and

Ensure that all of these programs link together to enable every working adult to work his or her way up a lifelong career ladder.

"Working together, we can close the skills gap and do what is right for our workers, our employers and our economy," said Locke.

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