Co-Blogger Dale found this recent article (below) about “RealTime Talent,” as featured in a recent issue of the Minneapolis StarTribune.
Dale tells us that to create more talent, we also need RealTime “experiences.”
RE@L has its own RE@Ltime virtual learning experiences built into its STEM software products! Learning resources are at the ready!
Our RE@L founders, who started MECC back in the 1970’s, were a part of the call for “fully staffing a growing economy.” MECC made that happen, and now RE@L will make it happen. Our RE@L software products will help change tomorrow’s K12 learners to better serve our Minnesota economy and their career options.
50 years ago, MECC brought hundreds of software products, including Oregon Trail™, all of which blazed a new trail for better K12 learning and students who could later “staff” the growing economy we now know.
Now, RE@L is addressing these same issues again! RE@L’s key leaders already know how to “staff a growing economy.” Why? Because we’ve done it before and we are doing it again.
We present the commentary by Deb Broberg from”RealTime Talent,” along with brief, inserted comments from RE@L’s Dale La Frenz. See below:
“Here’s what Minnesota must do to fully staff a growing economy” – Interview by Neal St. Anthony, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Q: What is the purpose of RealTime Talent?
A: RealTime Talent helps create more informed, market-oriented decisions throughout the Minnesota workforce and education ecosystem to ensure the state’s economy has the talent it needs to help Minnesotans prepare for successful, well-paying careers.
(Dale says, RE@L’s emerging K12 Software Products will help insure a steady stream of STEM-taught learners.)
A: Over the next few years, Minnesota’s population will grow at about one-fourth the rate it grew in the 1990s. By the year 2022 the state of Minnesota faces a 239,000-worker shortage — impacting all industries. We have employers struggling to fill jobs and people who want to work. We lack alignment.
This will further exacerbate the challenges employers have in filling job vacancies. For example, we estimate that by next year there will be a shortage of at least 62,250 workers in the seven-county metro. RTT has analyzed the workforce needs of six high-demand industry sectors with career paths that lead toward high-paying jobs. Each have occupations that [lack] enough supply coming from education and training programs. Jobs such as developers, registered nurses, welders, engineers and mechanics represent a few … that employers have identified as critical to sustain and grow the state’s economy.
(Dale responds that STEM-based learning in our schools provided by RE@L will help address those occupational concerns for both girls and boys, regardless of career requirements.)
Q: We have one of the widest education, employment and income gaps in the country between whites and minorities. What is the challenge and opportunity?
A: Racial inequities must be addressed to solve the demand for workers and provide economic stability for all people. It is not just a moral imperative, but an economic one. Currently, about 20 percent of people in our state are racial or ethnic minorities, compared to 25 percent by 2035. If we are successful in eliminating labor-force participation and employment disparities by race and ethnicity by 2022, we could add about 57,000 additional workers to Minnesota companies beyond what we would expect under our current conditions, closing about 24 percent of our estimated talent shortage.
Also, without a substantial increase in migration, the Minnesota labor force will grow much slower than it has in the past. Foreign-born residents of Minnesota have been critical … in recent years, contributing [about two-thirds] of labor-force growth between 2010 and 2016. Immigrants are younger on average and participate in the labor force at higher rates than the native-born population.
(Dale responds that RE@L Software Products are “classroom-tested.” It makes RE@L products suitable and effective for all students, by providing resources for teachers to address these differing needs among all students.)
Q: Employers say they don’t need a four-year computer science degree for every IT position and that high school graduates with training can succeed in a variety of manufacturing, technology, health care and other careers. Are the community colleges and nonprofit trainers and others who provide certifications starting to produce sufficient numbers to start closing the job openings for bus mechanics, IT support workers, health aides and otherwise?
A: Changing the narrative to ensure students and parents recognize the income potential and longer-term career pathways of jobs that do not require a four-year degree is another opportunity that will help to decrease student debt and increase earning potential of young people. In the midst of tightening enrollment, higher education is beginning to explore creative options for students to earn and learn simultaneously, participate in boot camp models, or further their education in smaller steps. This re-imagining of education is taking place across the nation — it’s a very exciting time.
(Dale’s comment: RE@L’s new system for STEM in K12 provides just that – – – a “re-imagining”of education is taking place; this is precisely what RE@L is bringing to K12 classrooms this fall)
Health care, in particular, is making great progress in both meeting the significant talent shortage and diversifying the nursing pipeline in the metro, building on success getting people trained, credentialed and employed in the industry using strong partnerships between employers, community-based organizations and community colleges. However, greater focus on youth, disabled, [minority] and displaced workers is needed as the supply of talent is still not adequate to meet demand today or in the near future. There is some evidence that’s working.
Q: What is the risk to the Minnesota economy if we fail to produce enough qualified workers?
A: The economic impact is compelling, particularly if we hope to maintain previous growth rates. We have already begun to see signs of slowing growth. By 2022, this slowed growth combined with our anticipated 239,000-worker shortage could mean up to $33 billion of state [economic output] not realized annually. Approximately $12 billion in personal income lost, and around $2.2 billion in local taxes not collected annually.
In closing, RE@L fully supports RealTime Talent’s Deb Broberg’s call to action to bring a stronger commitment to “fully staffing a growing economy” here in the Minnesota and beyond. We at RE@L join RealTime Talents call-to-action!
RE@L software products address the growing need of STEM-educated graduates who can ably enter the job market and continue growing our economic community.
RE@L does just that!