A new report out today warns that Alabama faces a frightening shortage of skilled workers within the next five years if there isn’t more collaboration between business, education and career tech training programs.

The Business Education Alliance of Alabama, a public policy group, is out with its report, “Education Matters,” the first in a series of reports from the Alliance on workforce development in Alabama. BEA Chairman and President Joe Morton unveiled the report today for business executives at the Alabama Workforce Council.

The Public Affairs Research Council conducted research for the report, while the A+ Education Partnership provided additional research support and consultation.

Morton said Alabama is on pace to have a shortage of close to 200,000 highly-skilled workers by 2025-26 if nothing changes.

“Our report sought to discover whether the state has the right tools in place to produce an increased number of highly skilled workers, and what needs to change to ensure those workers are qualified for the jobs that will become available,” Morton said.

A shortage in properly trained, skilled workers has been a concern in multiple industries for several years nationally.

Alabama has a goal of preparing 500,000 highly-skilled workers within five years - the number of workers the state expects to need to compete for new industries and replace retiring workers successfully. But standing in the way are other factors, such as the state’s low third-grade reading proficiency, and its worst-in-the-nation math and reading scores in the National Assessment of Education Progress.

The report calls for new investments in Alabama’s First Class Pre-K program, a more targeted effort to improve reading and math foundational skills, and increased collaboration to improve student outcomes.

It also encourages policymakers to develop a “more meaningful” college and career readiness measurement, as well as calling on more local conversations on what career pathways, credentials, and certificates are needed.

“Although the state has an ambitious goal of training 500,000 highly-skilled workers by 2025, BEA’s report shows that we must do more to prepare workers than try to reach a target number," Tim McCartney, the chair of the Alabama Workforce Council, said. "It is equally important the workers gain the critical skills they need to be competitive in the workplace as Alabama strives to be even more successful in the future.”