Moscow, ID: With so much talk about green jobs, you would expect an abundance of available jobs and training for jobseekers to pursue. However, because the green movement is still young and green jobs lack the well-established economic characteristics and relationships found within traditional industry sectors (retail, manufacturing, finance) training programs, classifications, and actual job descriptions are either not really in place or are perhaps a bit vague and not connected to a job market that is ready to hire.

This paper is meant as a practical guide to help workforce, education, economic development professionals (and any other sort of career counselor) understand green jobs and be able to offer solid advice to young people and jobseekers so they can get on the right track and in the context of the demands of the regional economy. This paper will cover: (1) how to think about and approach training for green jobs, (2) how government policy might play out across industries and occupations, (3) how you can create industry and occupation analysis for your own area, and (4) how the entrepreneurial perspective is vital in all of this. Click here for a downloadable copy of the paper.

Harrisburg: On Wednesday, May 20, 2009, more than 60 residents of Lancaster County and the surrounding region graduated from apprenticeship programs in five trades including air conditioning and refrigeration, carpentry, electrical, plumbing, and sheet metal conducted by the Keystone Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors. Many of the graduates also received their Apprenticeship Completion Cards from the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training of the US Department of Labor. The graduation ceremony was held at the Sheraton Hotel near Harrisburg.

Graduates were congratulated and encouraged by PA Attorney General Tom Corbett; Jack Zimmer, President of ABC Keystone; Stephen Campbell, 2009 ABC Keystone Chair-Elect; and Roger Brubaker, Chair of the Apprenticeship and Craft Training Committee of ABC Keystone. Steve Myers represented the US Department of Labor.

Nearly all of the construction trades are considered high priority occupations in the Commonwealth of PA. They are also included in the Top 100 Hot Jobs in Lancaster County of the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board. Click here for more information on jobs in construction. For more information on apprenticeship and other training offered by ABC Keystone, click here.

Lancaster: During the week of April 20-24, 2009, more than 700 students from nine school districts in Lancaster County including Conestoga Valley, Elizabethtown, Ephrata, Lampeter-Strasburg; Lancaster County Academy, Manheim Township, School District of Lancaster, Penn Manor, Solanco, and Columbia along with the Lancaster County Academy, SACA Youthbuild, and the Phoenix Academy shadowed over 400 workers from more than 370 companies during the annual Lancaster County Job Shadowing Day.

Dominic DeFilippo from the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board coordinated the event. He commented recently that "this program continues to grow as more young people focus their thinking on the transition from school to work. Job shadowing allows young people to see workers actually doing their job. We are indebted to the Lancaster County employers who participated." Click here to see a letter from a student who participated.

Andrew Garner from the Workforce Investment Board, Patty Pasquino from Willow Valley, Beth Ann Haas from the Career and Technology Center, Kim Patrick from the Career and Technology Center, Debi Schmidt from Learning for Life, Marita Skacel from the Lancaster Chamber, and Rebecca Doumaux from Junior Achievement made up the Planning Committee for the event.

Lancaster: A team of three teachers from the Martin Mylin Middle School was the winner of the STEM Unit Design Challenge held by the Lancaster County STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Council and the Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board. Kenneth Neuman, Joellen Rowe, and Jay Lance where joined by Principal Michael Burcin and Superintendent Robert Frick for a recognition ceremony at the May 21 meeting of the Workforce Investment Board where each teacher received a $1,000 prize and the District received $500 for their efforts.

The STEM Unit Design Challenge was put together to encourage teachers to build more technically challenging contentinto their regular classroom curriculum. The Martin Mylin team which includes a technology, math, and science teacher put together a curriculum unit on health education in cooperation with mentor Alice Yoder from the Lancaster General Hospital. For more information on STEM, click here.

Hanover, Germany: At the Hanover Fair this year, the third annual Skills USA competitions in the professional disciplines of mechatronics, mobile robotics and electronics was held with students from all over Germany competing for the German championship and the title of Skills Germany 2009 national champion. The Festo team consisting of Jochen Spohr and Florian Haizmannwon the contest, qualifying them to attend World Skills, the professional world championships in Calgary, Canada, from September 1-6, 2009.

In the competition, the teamshad the task of building, operating, programming, and optimizing real mechatronics systems. For more information on World Skills, click here.

A career path that leads from a non-credit certificate in industrial maintenance with 11 credit hour toward an Associates Degree in Mechatronics Engineering Technology is available from the Lancaster County Career and Technology Center and Reading Area Community College. Mechatronics combines knowledge and skills from mechanical, electrical, and control engineering with information technology to create a new multi-skilled tradesperson who is an expert problem-solver for the automated machinery that is reinventing American manufacturing. For more information, contact Hal Hartman at LCCTC ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) or Dr. John Devere at RACC ( This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.