Technology and societal needs in the transportation sector are changing fast, and with them the skills transportation workers will need to do their jobs.
Autonomous and flying vehicles, changing demographics, rapid urbanization, and concerns about resource consumption are all factors that are drastically changing the landscape for transportation workers. Developing the right skills to meet these changing demands is highly important yet challenging when it comes to ensuring the skills developed keep pace with technological advances. Traditional methods of training or retraining workers may need a reset to accommodate this accelerated pace.
To address these challenges, Trinette Ballard and Victoria Peters from the Federal Highway Administration shared thoughts at the virtual NLTAPA/NTTD Annual Conference on how to move the existing workforce ahead of the curve. Following a range of discussion questions, attendees identified some key concerns for the future and potential strategies that might address them:
- Artificial intelligence will likely have a major impact on the industry. It has the potential to expand data collection, automate certain tasks, and provide an interlinked, communicating grid of vehicles and infrastructure. It also poses unique security and privacy risks. As a result, a certain level of comfort and skill around technology will likely be required of workers in the future.
- Flexibility and diversity are becoming increasingly necessary as the needs of the industry change with ever-increasing speed. Short-term, one- to two-year schooling programs may become more common compared to fourto five-year programs. On-the-job training, retraining, and job shadowing will likely become key to ensuring that workers can continually update their skill sets.
- Second careers are showing signs of becoming the new employment norm in the transportation sector. In the near future, transportation workers may no longer stay in one job or career for 30 years. This has its advantages, in that it allows young workers to develop diverse skill sets and better find careers that fit their strengths. However, it also comes with challenges; workers must be able to learn new skills quickly. Skills that are readily transfer (such as soft skills) and on-the-job training may become critical for this new employment format.
“This was really about looking into the future,” Peters concluded. “A decade forward is not that far away, so we need to really start thinking about what we can do today, what we can do five years from now, to prepare for that 10- to 15-year horizon.”
—Sophia Koch, MnLTAP freelancer
NLTAPA/NTTD annual conference
Transportation professionals from all over the country gathered virtually on July 28–30 for the 31st annual National Local Technical Assistance Program Association (NLTAPA) conference. This also was the second year that NLTAPA partnered with the National Transportation Training Directors (NTTD) for the event. Presenters shared widely applicable information about leadership, building community, better communication, and training strategies; others presented industry-specific tools and resources. Audience members interacted and asked questions throughout the event. We share three summary articles: Preparing the workforce of the future, Tips for conflict management: The STOP method, and An ‘alphabet soup’ of digital traffic safety resources from FHWA.