Technology in the workplace changes so rapidly that companies that can't keep up with the competition are candidates for failure.

According to Manpower Group, a multinational human resource consulting firm headquartered in Milwaukee, Wis., 52 percent of American companies have difficulty filling jobs and 47 percent of employers blame a prospects' lack of hard job skills or technical skills.High schools should prioritize their training courses to make students labor-ready. Community colleges in many states, including our Lehigh-Carbon campuses in this area, have proved to be good partners with companies by tailoring course work to the specific needs of the employer.One of our problems is that American companies don't seem to do training anymore. The disappearance of apprenticeship training programs also compounds the problem.American employers argue that there are hurdles in training workers. One is that after making the investment to train them, someone else offers them more money and hires them away. One remedy might be to offer new workers a longer probationary period with lower pay until they're able to handle the job requirements.Today, Pennsylvania's unemployment rate (5.7 percent) is at its lowest since September 2008 and jobs have been growing on a consistent basis for nearly four years. This is vital since manufacturing contributes an annual economic output of $75.5 billion, accounting for about 14 percent of Pennsylvania's gross product.To improve and enhance our existing apprenticeship programs so that apprentices acquire the skills necessary to compete, Gov. Tom Corbett recently announced up to $1 million in JOBS1st PA grants. Corbett explained that some of the most high-priority occupations in the commonwealth are linked to apprenticeship training programs, including auto service technicians, electricians, carpenters, construction laborers, plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters, maintenance workers and welders. Interested qualified applicants may visit

dli.state.pa.us/apprenticeship for more information.In parts of Europe, training is often mandated, and apprenticeships and other programs that help provide work experience are part of the infrastructure. The result is that many of those countries aren't having skill-shortage complaints at the same level as in the U.S. The ones with the most established apprenticeship programs - the Scandinavian nations, Germany and Switzerland - also have low unemployment.With America's "recovery" stuck in low gear for so long, we could likely learn some things from the successful European models.By Jim Zbickeditor@tnonline.com