Computer skills need stimulus

A couple of weeks ago I suggested that Virginia should take some of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package money to educate state youth. This week I’ll again urge Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and the state General Assembly to take its part of the stimulus package to also educate Virginians of all ages, especially those who aren’t using and don’t like computers.

And as I wrote in that previous column, working in the Resource Room of Harrisonburg’s Virginia Employment Commission office helping current and prospective workers find jobs or to apply for unemployment benefits through use of the computer is very enlightening. I was lucky enough to be introduced to the first generation of computers and its use back in the late 1960s. My first post-college job was in the manufacturing environment and it required me (and about seven or eight others) to gather, calculate and record hourly employees’ time, attendance and production.

After verifying the different information for accuracy, the data were sent to the Data Processing Department where the information was entered into huge IBM computers. Back then, company computers were enclosed in massive rooms. After processing, the reports were split and delivered to various departments throughout the factory.

Unlike people who come into the VEC daily and say, “I hate computers,” I became accustomed to the machines and appreciate what they allow us to do.

I now realize that unless former and potential workers who aren’t used to computers overcome their anxiety toward them they will be left behind if they’re lucky, and completely lost if they’re unlucky.

Ninety percent – and that’s a conservative estimate – of job openings now require applications to be submitted online. Only a few employers will accept applications at their work sites. And even fewer accept applications unaccompanied by a resume and cover letter.

What’s more, resumes and cover letters are required for the most basic of jobs. The kinds of jobs in which formal skills aren’t necessary. (I won’t name examples to avoid being insensitive or demeaning.) Bottom line, manual labor is on its way out, if it’s not already gone.

With Virginia’s high unemployment rate still growing, stimulus money could be used to educate and re-educate experienced former and future workers in addition to young people.

Idle and empty former buildings and schools could be remodeled and modernized to teach basic computer skills to those looking for work. And with school boards and administrators needing to reduce the number of teachers, there should be instructors out of work and available to train or retrain, whichever the case may be.

Nelson Graves, of Augusta County, is a columnist for The News Virginian. E-mail him at .