>>With local unemployment ranging between 2.9 and 3.8 percent, workers have no problem finding jobs in Southwest Florida. On the surface, the statistics seem encouraging, but there are real weaknesses within our workforce, according to Edison College's William Roshon.

On one hand, employers can't find enough skilled employees; on the other, workers who could fill those positions and then earn more are not seeking or receiving the necessary training, says Roshon, who has been at Edison for 15 years, six of those in his current position.

That's where programs at Edison and other local colleges and universities can help. Like others in his field, Roshon is happy to discuss the opportunities.

1. What are the critical workforce needs?

The obvious ones are nurses and teachers. Beyond those, I think the areas would be just about anything else in the healthcare professions. Another area [in need] is public safety, such as firefighters, law enforcement and paramedic folks.

On the whole, most employers I talk to anticipate that they're going to have to do a bit of training, because the people they are getting these days don't have the necessary skills. The other part is that, these days, there seems to be a great lacking in generic skills, such as critical thinking, interpersonal communications and relationships, and being able to communicate both in writing and verbally.

2. How do the skill shortages affect our communities?

You've got an enormous percentage of folks in Southwest Florida who are in jobs that will not allow them to be completely self-sufficient. You look at a little exercise we do, taking 30 high school freshmen and follow them through the next few years: You've got a number who drop out during high school and a number who graduate but do absolutely nothing for the next number of years in terms of education. What you get in the end is roughly 23, 24 students from that group who will get nothing more than a high school education, if that.

3. How are Edison and the other schools responding?

We've been very successful over the past three years in tripling the size of our nursing program district-wide in our five-county area. We're producing registered nurses. The area vocational schools are producing licensed practical nurses. Florida Gulf Coast University is producing BSNs. The problem is, which most hospitals will tell you, there still are not enough [nurses].

In the area of teaching, we started our Educator Preparation Institute. [It] takes people who have a bachelor's degree, but not in education, and puts them through coursework in a compressed time frame and then prepares them to take the state teacher's certification exam.

[Broadly speaking] we have a tremendous amount of coursework and training available in a number of formats. It can be totally online or blended-partly online, partly face to face-or regular classes.

4. Do tuition costs keep people away?

Let's talk about a younger person who graduated from high school and decided to get a job and not get any further training or education, finding him- or herself in a situation where now they've got a family, they're trying to pay the bills, they can't afford a house. They're certain in their minds it's unattainable financially. Our philosophy is if a student wants to be here, we're going to make sure that the financial aspect is [manageable].

5. How are employers becoming involved?

Generally speaking, we're seeing a great deal more employers providing tuition reimbursement or pay incentives for additional training. We get requests to visit employer sites and provide credit classes for groups of employees or noncredit professional-development kinds of workshops. Or we'll see employers allow their employees to take advantage of an online class during their lunch hour.