Missouri Business Fall 2018

DATA DIVE // MISSOURI’S NUMBER OF WORK READY CERTIFICATIONS EXCEEDS U.S. AVERAGE
Certified Work Ready
Certificates in the Labor Force
Better than Missouri
Worse than Missouri
The Missouri Work Ready Communities initiative uses
the ACT National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC)
to identify the number of qualified workers available in
a given community and what skill level they have. This gives
economic developers valuable data to market their workforce
quality.
The Missouri 2030 Dashboard shows that since 2015,
Missouri has remained above the U.S. average for number of
Work Ready certifications per 1,000 people in the workforce.
This year, that U.S. average is 25.02. Missouri’s is 31.7, putting it
at 20th out of all 50 states.
While 19 other states have a higher number of individual
certifications per 1,000 workers than Missouri, Missouri is
excelling in its number of Work Ready certified counties,
according to ACT data.
On a certified-county basis, Missouri is second only to South
Carolina, which has 100 percent county certification. However,
South Carolina has only 46 counties. Missouri has 114, 94 of
which are currently participating in the initiative. Of those, 71
counties have completed certification so far.
Having a high number of certified individuals across a state’s
workforce is a strong advantage when it comes to attracting and
retaining businesses. Having a high number of entire counties
meeting certification goals, as Missouri does, can provide added
benefit because it demonstrates to businesses that specific areas
have a strong local workforce with good hiring potential.
Overall, more than 4,200 Missouri businesses are listed as
supporters of Work Ready Communities.
And here is more good news: A new Missouri law signed this
year will provide greater flexibility for students to take ACT
WorkKeys assessments in any year the state funds statewide
assessments. WorkKeys, the assessment tool NCRC uses,
tests potential employees for three critical skills: reading for
information, applied mathematics and locating information.
It can be taken as an alternative to the ACT Plus Writing test,
indicating that a student is career-ready.
As an illustration of WorkKeys in action, The Boeing Co.
uses it to screen applicants for its assembly mechanic preemployment
training programs with St. Louis Community
College. This has led to reduced hiring time and training time as
well as improved employee retention.
Whether you measure by individual certifications or
certified-status counties, Missouri is a strong performer in
the Work Ready Communities effort. To learn more, visit
workreadycommunities.org/MO.
See the full dashboard:
mochamber.com/dashboard
10 MISSOURI BUSINESS