As executive director of the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, Ron Painter sees the economy through a prism that measures the resources of education and training with future jobs.

Three Rivers is a nonprofit, government-related agency that oversees the network of Pennsylvania CareerLink centers. It has penned job market reports tracking what many consider the region's Big Five job fields: health care, financial services, manufacturing, hospitality/tourism and information technology.

Q. You're having breakfast at a diner with a high school student, a school superintendent and an employer. What would you say to each to help brighten their prospects of a happy 2009?

A. To the student: Everything that we've seen in the research tells us the more math and science they have, it's just a great track. Those who had math and science attached to the labor market faster and at higher wages.

To the superintendent: We've all had a great debate here over who to focus on. I think it's the great middle. I don't see anything aimed at these low-B, top-C students.

There's a 40 percent youth dropout rate in Pittsburgh schools. But with multiple education pathways, there's strong indicators of identifying a kid who is a potential dropout.

To the employer: Now is one of those times where the employer is in a position to think about the skills of their current work force, where their industry is going, what's the inventory of my current labor force skills and how can I raise that.

Employers are going to have to be more engaged in pipeline issues in K-12. Programs like E4 (The Three Rivers-run Educators and Employers Engaged for Excellence) that encourage job shadowing, teachers in the workplace.

Q. Much of your research stems from a pair of studies, "Managing the changing workforce" in 2006 and "Jobs of the future" in 2005. With three years of 20/20 hindsight, do you see something that proved to be wrong?

A. I don't think we're seeing anything different today than we did in 2006. I will say this, that the 50/50 challenge (compared to its peers, Pittsburgh has 50 percent more older workers and 50 percent fewer younger workers) will not play out as abruptly as we thought.

With the poor economy, people are going to find a way to stick around, but that also provides an opportunity for employers to see how they're handling their work force.

Q. The connection, or disconnect, between traditional education and the 21st century workplace seems a particular focus of yours -- the sore spot of unmatched demand for well-paid manufacturing jobs. Given our rich "blue-collar" tradition, does this surprise you?

A. No one ever had the shock to the labor market that Pittsburgh had when steel basically collapsed here .... So the psychology of this angst is, "What am I going to do?"

All of these kids have a personal story of a father, an uncle, somebody they knew who had some period of unemployment .... So when you're talking about the blue-collar job portfolio, these kids grew up hearing their parents say, "Go to college, go to college, don't do what I do."

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but what wasn't told was this middle story ... about these technical jobs that pay well and that you can get into without a four-year degree. It might be that we're coming back to that kind of balance.

Q. What's one of the sweet spots in the future workplace, a job that seems to maximize a level of education and training with good pay?

A. Utilities, places like Duquesne Light or FirstEnergy. One of the factoids people don't realize is that 50 percent of the people who maintain those wires are eligible to retire in the next three years. Who's going to replace them?

When we had these ice storms and we heard it'll take three days to repair, I said, of course -- there's a need for workers. And one of the best places working with power plant operators (median salary $55,000) is at Youngstown State University.

Also, I think short-term with [President-elect Barack] Obama's focus on infrastructure, we'll have to see how that's defined. But construction ... things like wind energy. It's the same sort of turbine that people here have been working on for generations, a different utilization with these same skill sets.

Q. One myth that you seem to partially dispel is the '60s adage, "To get a good job, get a good education." Do you think the traditional, four-year liberal arts route is overplayed?

A. We are not saying that a four-year degree isn't a good thing. From everything we've seen, there is a correlation with good earnings. The factor in unemployment is significantly less, too, the more education you have.

But what we are saying is there are multiple pathways.

As executive director of the Three Rivers Workforce Investment Board, Ron Painter sees the economy through a prism that measures the resources of education and training with future jobs.

Three Rivers is a nonprofit, government-related agency that oversees the network of Pennsylvania CareerLink centers. It has penned job market reports tracking what many consider the region's Big Five job fields: health care, financial services, manufacturing, hospitality/tourism and information technology.

Q. You're having breakfast at a diner with a high school student, a school superintendent and an employer. What would you say to each to help brighten their prospects of a happy 2009?

A. To the student: Everything that we've seen in the research tells us the more math and science they have, it's just a great track. Those who had math and science attached to the labor market faster and at higher wages.

To the superintendent: We've all had a great debate here over who to focus on. I think it's the great middle. I don't see anything aimed at these low-B, top-C students.

There's a 40 percent youth dropout rate in Pittsburgh schools. But with multiple education pathways, there's strong indicators of identifying a kid who is a potential dropout.

To the employer: Now is one of those times where the employer is in a position to think about the skills of their current work force, where their industry is going, what's the inventory of my current labor force skills and how can I raise that.

Employers are going to have to be more engaged in pipeline issues in K-12. Programs like E4 (The Three Rivers-run Educators and Employers Engaged for Excellence) that encourage job shadowing, teachers in the workplace.

Q. Much of your research stems from a pair of studies, "Managing the changing workforce" in 2006 and "Jobs of the future" in 2005. With three years of 20/20 hindsight, do you see something that proved to be wrong?

A. I don't think we're seeing anything different today than we did in 2006. I will say this, that the 50/50 challenge (compared to its peers, Pittsburgh has 50 percent more older workers and 50 percent fewer younger workers) will not play out as abruptly as we thought.

With the poor economy, people are going to find a way to stick around, but that also provides an opportunity for employers to see how they're handling their work force.

Q. The connection, or disconnect, between traditional education and the 21st century workplace seems a particular focus of yours -- the sore spot of unmatched demand for well-paid manufacturing jobs. Given our rich "blue-collar" tradition, does this surprise you?

A. No one ever had the shock to the labor market that Pittsburgh had when steel basically collapsed here .... So the psychology of this angst is, "What am I going to do?"

All of these kids have a personal story of a father, an uncle, somebody they knew who had some period of unemployment .... So when you're talking about the blue-collar job portfolio, these kids grew up hearing their parents say, "Go to college, go to college, don't do what I do."

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but what wasn't told was this middle story ... about these technical jobs that pay well and that you can get into without a four-year degree. It might be that we're coming back to that kind of balance.

Q. What's one of the sweet spots in the future workplace, a job that seems to maximize a level of education and training with good pay?

A. Utilities, places like Duquesne Light or FirstEnergy. One of the factoids people don't realize is that 50 percent of the people who maintain those wires are eligible to retire in the next three years. Who's going to replace them?

When we had these ice storms and we heard it'll take three days to repair, I said, of course -- there's a need for workers. And one of the best places working with power plant operators (median salary $55,000) is at Youngstown State University.

Also, I think short-term with [President-elect Barack] Obama's focus on infrastructure, we'll have to see how that's defined. But construction ... things like wind energy. It's the same sort of turbine that people here have been working on for generations, a different utilization with these same skill sets.

Q. One myth that you seem to partially dispel is the '60s adage, "To get a good job, get a good education." Do you think the traditional, four-year liberal arts route is overplayed?

A. We are not saying that a four-year degree isn't a good thing. From everything we've seen, there is a correlation with good earnings. The factor in unemployment is significantly less, too, the more education you have.

But what we are saying is there are multiple pathways.