DEVELOPING THE HUMAN CAPITAL. Employers anticipate shortages of skilled workers who are not necessarily symbolic analysts.

A report being released Thursday by The Workforce Alliance and the Skills2Compete-Wisconsin campaign says 54% of Wisconsin's current jobs and 46% of the projected needs are in middle-skill occupations such as registered nurses, customer service representatives and truck drivers.

However, only 46% of Wisconsin's workers have middle-skill training. And while the recession has thrown a wrench in short-term hiring outlooks, expectations of worker shortages are raising concerns - even in the beleaguered manufacturing and construction industries.

Perhaps in time the labor markets will adjust (are adjusting already?) the returns to a university degree. In the meantime, some people risk being disappointed.

"The middle skills are really underappreciated," said Mike Fabishak, chief executive officer of the contractors association. "So many people, characteristically driven by their parents, have been sort of college-oriented without the appreciation that one out of two kids don't even graduate."

And many graduates qualify for an entry-level management position at the company they worked for to pay their way through. The article suggests that community colleges devote more resources to their technical programs. Presumably Milwaukee's Bradley Tech is too far deteriorated for the policymakers to contemplate producing blue collar aristocrats in high school plus one year.