Opinion

Guáqueta: Mexico is doing a poor job preparing students Government needs to develop strategies to closenation's middle-skills gap

Alfonso Pechote works on a lab project at the Universidad TecnolÃ©³gica de QuerÃ©taro, part of the certification program to work at the Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier plant in QuerÃ©taro, Mexico, March 27, 2007. Bombardier partnered with the school to develop an aerospace curriculum. less Alfonso Pechote works on a lab project at the Universidad TecnolÃ©³gica de QuerÃ©taro, part of the certification program to work at the Canadian aircraft manufacturer Bombardier plant in QuerÃ©taro, ... more Photo: JENNIFER SZYMASZEK, Freelance Photo: JENNIFER SZYMASZEK, Freelance Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Guáqueta: Mexico is doing a poor job preparing students 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Mexico's energy reform has been scrutinized for the level of national controls and government-sector contract opportunities it's expected to create. On this side of the border, another concern mirrors a local conversation about the coming employment opportunities: Is the workforce ready to fill the new jobs?

With its current educational outlook, the answer is: No. Mexico will face a skills gap as the energy sector expands, with older workers retiring and few students in energy sector fields. Today, only 9.4 percent of all employed citizens have a higher-education degree and within five years, 20 percent of the employees at Pemex and Mexico's National Commission of Hydrocarbons are expected to retire.

Mexico also lacks sufficient numbers of students enrolled in high school and postsecondary education. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which conducts a triennial international survey that evaluates education systems worldwide, found that although between 2003 and 2012 the number of students enrolled in school increased from 53 percent to 70 percent, Mexico still has the third-lowest number of students enrolled of all the assessed countries.

For Mexico to fully reap the benefits of energy reform for employment, it must focus resources to produce the needed talent. Education in skills related to the energy sector must be strengthened in primary, secondary and postsecondary education, and workforce conditions in the energy sector must also be attractive to prospective employees.

Mexico is doing a poor job now preparing students. Math competency has improved, as the OECD assessment found, but, compared to other OECD countries, 55 percent of students in Mexico are still behind their peers in basic math skills and 47 percent are not reaching basic competency levels in science.

The lackluster academic performance is reflected in the workforce pipeline. According to a 2014 study by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, careers in earth sciences, manufacturing, mining and extractive activities are in the bottom 10 fields chosen by undergraduates. A study by the consulting firm Engineering Trends reported that of the 24,000 engineers that graduate annually in Mexico, only 1 percent are petroleum engineers. As a result, despite the energy sector being one of the highest-paid fields in Mexico, it fails to attract a sufficient number of college graduates in engineering and science.

Looking ahead, President Enrique Peña Nieto's proposal to create the Mexican Petroleum Fund for Stabilization and Development is a step in the right direction. The fund would administer the petroleum income to, among other things, support investments in higher education.

This must be accompanied by continued efforts to boost enrollment in primary and secondary education as well as increasing the pool of students who are prepared for STEM careers.

The Mexican government and energy companies should promote outreach programs to attract students to careers in the energy sector. Texas, with its own energy boom, has faced a shortage in the local, skilled workforce and offers an example of outreach and private-sector participation. For instance, the Greater Houston Partnership put together the Regional Workforce Development Task Force, comprised of business members and social service and education representatives. Its goal is to develop strategies that will close the middle-skills gap in the region. In Mexico, the government of Nuevo León brought together local business, government and academic representatives to prepare the Energy Sector Plan for the State of Nuevo León 2014–2015.

But task forces are not enough. As in Texas, the changes that Mexico undertakes to strengthen its workforce must be strategic and bold. Too many young people do not have equal access to the type of quality education needed to produce the workforce that will sustain and fuel the expanding energy economy. And deep-rooted poverty, particularly rural poverty, threatens to undermine workforce development efforts and any attempt to grow the country's middle class. That Mexico has recognized the urgency of its workforce needs is a good sign, but what's needed now is action.

Guáqueta is program coordinator for the Mexico Center at Rice University's Baker Institute of Public Policy.