Last week, Chesapeake’s “R U READY?” hosted an Early Education Business Forum for business, civic and philanthropic leaders. Stephen Wright, Director of Economic Development, shared with the group why businesses need to get involved in improving early education. Wright emphasized how in order to stay a city that attracts and retains quality businesses, we need to make sure we are setting our future workforce up for success by giving them quality education from an early age.
According to Wright, that begins with early education because jobs of the future require an educated and skilled workforce:
- The jobs that are in high demand now require skills such as: expert critical thinking; problem solving; ability to learn and adapt to new technology quickly. 85% of a child’s ability to learn these skills is learned by age 5.
- Jobs consisting of only routine manual and cognitive tasks are declining; a person cannot expect to make a good living with a high school diploma alone.
- College Grads have lower unemployment rates and higher incomes.
- Chesapeake has a low unemployment rate and high graduation rates compared to national statistics BUT we are striving for more than just a high school diploma-that is just the starting line.
- 63% of jobs will require a college degree by 2020. 28.5 % of Chesapeake residents have a college degree currently.
- Children who attend high-quality early education settings are more likely to graduate high school AND college.
Wright also mentioned how 66.9% of Chesapeake families have all adults in their household working outside of their home. That means that nearly 70% of Chesapeake parents put their children’s early education in the hands of child care centers. One study found parents miss an average of 4.3 days during a 6-month period due to child care breakdown. If working parents have access to affordable, dependable, and high quality child care it will enhance their productivity and reduce their absenteeism.
So what can you do? Visit our Are You In? page to see how you can join the cause!