This initiative recognises that Americans today are facing a "new minimum" when it comes to achieving prosperity. The sources revealed that, about 50 years ago the minimum qualification required for achieving success was just a high school education.
Guess what? At that time, 75% of all US jobs required only a high school diploma or no diploma at all.
Unfortunately, the number has dropped today to 40%, and that still represents a significant percentage of the job market that is less than one-third of jobs available to high school graduates and drop outs pay more than $25,000 per year.
On a clear note, it can be assumed that a high school diploma is no longer adequate to guarantee a good job. A recent study revealed that in Oklahoma, only 23 percent of the jobs created between 2010 and 2020 will be available to those with a high school degree or less. The rest will require vocational or associates degrees, college degrees, or some additional education or formal training beyond high school.
It has been noted that states across the country are facing issues regarding the same.
However, the America Works initiative aims to help close the gap by engaging Education, Business and Government leaders in a dialogue about what Governors can do to closely align the K-12 education, Universities, Community and Technical Colleges and Workforce Training providers with a secured future of labor demands.