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Aug. 18 to 24
Workforce Skills Gap
The Business Roundtable, an association of more than 200 chief executive officers of America’s leading companies, launched an initiative this year aimed at building a stronger and deeper pipeline of workers in the skilled trades. The focus of the effort falls on four industries: industrial and manufacturing, construction and building, maintenance and repair, and energy.
According to the Roundtable, only one net new employee results from every 20 job openings in the skilled trades. The workforce crisis extends from trades to professional job categories in STEM fields.
A CEO survey on the skills gap revealed three categories of skills in need of development:
- There is a need for basic “employability skills.” These include the ability to use basic math, to communicate effectively, to read technical manuals, to work successfully in teams, and to work in partnership on complex problem-solutions. Some 50% of the CEOs surveyed said they had difficulty finding applicants with basic math and writing skills.
- There is a lack of workers with specialized skills for trade positions. Again, 44% of the CEOs said they could not find enough candidates for skilled trade occupations.
- At a different level of education attainment, applicants with science, technology, engineering and math skills are difficult to find. STEM jobs remain unfilled. Among the most difficult to fill are jobs in cybersecurity, data science, robotics and computer science.
A new Gallup study finds students remain unaware of options other than four-year college degrees when graduating from high school. Many say they receive limited guidance on alternatives. Many Gen Z secondary school students feel unprepared for career pathways, the study says. A survey of human resources leaders earlier this year shows that recent college graduates are also unprepared for the work world.
Meanwhile, taxpayers spend hundreds of millions on K-12 schools while students and families go into debt to cover college costs. Study after study suggests that the school-to-work pipeline needs major changes if even part of the goal of education is career readiness.
Recycled Plastic
The bottom has fallen out of the market for recycled plastic. The price for a bale of old plastic bottles has dropped by 50% since May, according to the Wall Street Journal. In addition to major price changes, agreements at international cooperation on the “plastics problem” have failed to materialize.
International talks to drastically cut plastics production and the toxins involved fell apart in Geneva earlier this month. Although over 100 countries favored limits on plastics production, the United States opposed any caps, arguing that they imposed burdens on industries and the country’s economy.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says the world makes roughly 400 million tons of new plastic each year, and that number could increase by 70% by 2040 without meaningful change. State and local recycling laws in the United States affect separate collection of many plastic products, but most still end up in landfills or, worse, in the environment.
One big problem for recycled plastic is a recent change in the willingness of Malaysia to accept plastic waste imports. The country enacted new laws that ban these imports as of July 1, 2025. Countries that have not signed the Basel Convention against “waste colonialism” are barred from shipping used plastic products to Malaysia.
The Basel Convention is an international treaty on the movement of hazardous waste. The United States has not signed the treaty. This move is reminiscent of the shock waves sent through the recycling community when China introduced its national recycling policy in 2018.
The Journal says that a wave of new plastic plants have come online in the U.S., partly as a result of declines in oil prices that make the creation of new plastic cheaper than using recycled plastic.
Cocktail, Anyone?
On Aug. 19 Gallup published results of polling that indicate major changes in the consumption of alcohol in the United States.
The data showed that just over half of Americans, 54%, say they drink alcohol. That is the lowest level reported in Gallup’s survey results since 1939. For the first time a majority of those surveyed said that even moderate drinking, having just one alcoholic drink a day, is bad for your health.
There goes that glass of wine with dinner, the beer while watching the game on the flat screen or, heaven forbid, joining the cocktail hour.
This sobering approach to drinking is favored most by young adults, those under 35 years old. Two out of three young adults believe that even moderate drinking is bad for you. Industry sources say data show a significant market forming for the mocktail as a way of fostering inclusion of social experiences without resorting to alcohol.
Of those who do still indulge in alcohol, the preference list put wine third on the list of three. The survey results show a preference for beer at the top of the list for 38% of U. S. drinkers, liquor for 30%, and 20% saying they prefer wine.
The difference in preferences over a generation is significant as well, with wine significantly higher than liquor in 1992, at 27% to 21%. Beer was even more the champion in 1992, as a preference for 47% of drinkers.
Reports this year are that the wine industry is feeling the loss as it tries to shake the image being elitest among millennials and Gen Zers.
No surprise, the majority of those 55 or older are not as concerned about the potentially ill effects of moderate drinking.
Week in Review
*Avalon is considering outsourcing the maintenance of its two water towers, a move that Administrator Scott Wahl says would result in a strong annual upkeep program while freeing millions in capital funds.
*A Villas resident was the target of a SWAT team raid related to the distribution of heroin and cocaine, the county Prosecutor’s Office said in a press release.
*The North Wildwood Police Department has arrested two Philadelphia men for possession of a weapon stolen in Pennsylvania and for related charges.
*Three state agencies will be asking the public how to use funds intended to advance clean energy and climate mitigation goals.
*Interest in investing in data centers is increasing rapidly, according to a survey by CBRE Group: Global Commercial Real Estate Services.
*A Cape May County grand jury handed up 18 indictments Aug. 19.
*One of the youngest survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp told of her experiences and the atrocities she witnessed to a full house Aug. 17 at Beth Judah Temple in Wildwood.
*A drug bust on Aug. 11 did not yield a large amount of heroin, as originally suspected, but a larger batch of the synthetic opioid Carfentanil, which is far more dangerous than fentanyl, according to the county Prosecutor’s Office.
*Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mikie Sherrill promises to declare a state of emergency on day one in order to freeze electricity rates that she says are “breaking the back of too many families” in New Jersey.
*A 61-year-old Cold Spring man has been charged with his son’s death, allegedly supplying him with the drugs that prompted a fatal overdose, police said in a complaint obtained by the Herald.
*Homeowners and businesses in North Wildwood got a different piece of government mail last month: They were told their properties were going to be reassessed.
*U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2) spent some time dispelling what he said were misrepresentations of the state of the nation and the capital when he addressed the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce Thursday, Aug. 21, at the South 9 Restaurant and Tavern in Cape May Court House.
*The crew members at SeaTow-Cape May are always up for a challenge, whether it is threading the needle towing a 35-foot-wide vessel through a 50-foot gap between the piers of a bridge, or rescuing nearly a dozen cats left alone on a vessel in Cape May Harbor.
*Before a standing-room-only crowd, the Ocean City Council voted 6-1 to kill the resort hotel complex proposed by Eustace Mita and ICONA resorts for the property that was home to the now-defunct Wonderland Amusement Pier.
*New Stone Harbor Administrator Joseph Clark filed suit against his former employer within days of attending his first Borough Council meeting on July 15.
*Hurricane Erin had a rendezvous with Cape May County Friday and Saturday, but let it off relatively easy. Things could have been far worse than they threatened to be, and officials up and down the Shore were grateful that the hurricane came no closer.
Spout Off of the Week
I can’t take it anymore. People blaming code enforcement for cars parked on the street or in front of their house. YOU DON’T OWN THE STREET. If a car is not parked legally call the police. The street is for public parking, get over it.
Wildwood Crest
