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Early learning key to quality future workforce locally

Consider that 76 million baby boomers will retire in coming years and there are just 51 million people prepared to replace them in the job market.

Consider that 65 percent of the young people being educated in our region will end up staying here, based on the track record of employment.

Consider that within the work force jobs requiring skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics will grow by 17 percent in the next 10 years, while other jobs will grow by 9.8 percent.

Lloyd Lamm, co-chairman of the Governor’s Early Learning Investment Commission, was armed with those facts when he recently spoke to a Williamsport-Lycoming Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

Lamm used them to push the banner of early learning. He said the first years of a person’s life are the best ones for fostering an interest in science, technology, logic and mathematics.

Unfortunately, Lamm said, the least amount of investment in education is made in the most critical early learning years. Early learning, Lamm said, improves later outcomes.

So, while Pennsylvania outspends most states regarding education, it may not be channeling it correctly.

Lamm urged employers to adopt policies in their workplaces that support early learning for the children of employees.

And he urged everyone to contact lawmakers to back early childhood education.

The numbers suggest that increased legislative backing is imperative if we are to have the quality and quantity of work force necessary locally and everywhere else in the future.

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