Governor’s Weekly Message Transcript: Preparing Our Future Workforce By Supporting STEM Education, Innovation

Three billion people in the world today are looking for jobs, but only 1.2 billion jobs are available. That’s daunting math, but Delaware has the opportunity to win in this global war for jobs, which is better characterized as a global war for talent. We can put Delaware on a sustainable path of economic growth now and well into the future by ensuring we fully take advantage of the abilities of our people.
A report released this week outlines a critical part of this effort to compete and win on the global stage. It comes from the Delaware STEM Council, which I created to make quality education in science, technology, engineering and math a competitive advantage for our state. Nearly four times as many jobs are open in these STEM fields as thereare unemployed workers in Delaware.
Meanwhile we have almost two unemployed workers for every available job not related to these fields. We must recognize that the demand for those skills will only grow in the coming years. Our new report outlines concrete steps that we’re taking to prepare our current and future students to take these jobs: engaging the business community directly with students and their teachers to make the lessons taught in the classroom relevant to STEM careers; giving STEM a special status at every school; and improving teacher training and parent outreach. As I learned in the private sector, it doesn’t help to think about big government or small government, but rather about smart government that creates an environment for our communities to thrive. An ambitious agenda to emphasize STEM education will help keep Delaware moving forward.