Bridging the U.S. Workforce Skills Gap: A Unified Effort - Sunil Ramlall, Ph.D.

Bridging the U.S. Workforce Skills Gap: A Unified Effort - Sunil Ramlall, Ph.D. 

The U.S. workforce faces one of the most pressing challenges of our time: a widening skills gap that threatens both economic growth and organizational performance. My recent article, Collaborative Strategies for Bridging the U.S. Workforce Skills Gap, published in the International Journal of Learning & Development, explores how this gap impacts employers, employees, and the nation—and what can be done about it.

The Challenge

Despite rapid technological change and evolving business needs, many organizations struggle to find workers with the right mix of technical expertise and human skills. Employers cite shortages in areas like data analytics, healthcare, and manufacturing, while employees often lack access to upskilling and reskilling opportunities that could prepare them for these roles.

A Collaborative Solution

No single entity can close the gap alone. The article emphasizes the need for a coordinated approach across four key stakeholders:

• Organizations: Implementing continuous training, reskilling, and career development initiatives.

• SHRM & Professional Associations: Setting standards and driving adoption of best practices in HR and workforce development.

• Academic Institutions: Aligning curricula with real-world business needs, ensuring graduates are workforce-ready.

• Government: Supporting public-private partnerships, funding workforce initiatives, and reducing barriers to education and training.

Moving Forward

Closing the skills gap requires more than incremental change. It demands bold, integrated strategies that combine business acumen, HR innovation, and policy support. By working together, organizations and institutions can create a workforce that is adaptable, future-ready, and globally competitive.

The message is clear: bridging the skills gap is not just a challenge—it’s an opportunity to strengthen our workforce, our economy, and our communities.

Full Citation:
Ramlall, S., & Ramlall, A. (2025). Collaborative Strategies for Bridging the U.S. Workforce Skills Gap: A Necessary Unified Effort by Organizations, SHRM, Academic Institutions, and Government. International Journal of Learning & Development, 15(2). https://doi.org/10.5296/ijld.v15i2.22678

Evolution of Management Thinking by Sunil Ramlall, Ph.D.

Dr. Sunil Ramlall shares an overview of the evolution of management thinking with a brief overview of management philosophies over time. This is especially relevant as we study management and strive to be the most effective managers and leaders.

Management Consulting Services - Employee Engagement, Motivation, and Pe...

𝗔𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀.

Are your organizational strategies focused on employee engagement, motivation, employee retention, and improving performance? As experts in the field, we will partner with you to conduct in-depth needs analysis, identify relevant strategies, and help with implementation to improve these key organizational outcomes.

We also focus on how work can create joy and happiness especially through positive organizational practices. Bottomline, we will collaborate on integrating organizational practices that will retain your key talent, enhance employees' engagement levels, and ultimately performance at the individual, team, and organizational levels. We will also conduct rigorous statistical analysis to understand the relationships and your current practices and the deliverables.

sramlall001@gmail.com | 651-210-2761

Hope Sports: The Ramlall Sisters

Sunil Ramlall

Sunil Ramlall - sharing for reach: WGU Labs Partners with Student Opportunity Center to Scale Experiential Learning at Western Governors University

WGU Labs Partners with Student Opportunity Center to Scale Experiential Learning at Western Governors University

Sunil Ramlall on the Pursuit of Happiness

Happiness - Brief Description by Sunil Ramlall

The earliest writings of philosophers pondered the virtues of positive thinking and the pursuit of happiness. For example, Aristotle argued that happiness is the highest good humans can achieve and that the use of reason and rationality is essential to its achievement.

In today's society, many will argue that work is the source of their stress, their inability to spend adequate time with family or volunteer in community activities and being unable to further their education. Happiness can be cultivated by identifying and using the strengths people already possess.

The search for excellence and all‐around happiness has been the important objective for ages. Happiness can be attained either through self‐contentment or through fulfillment of desires.

Over the years, many organizational leaders and managers have argued about the relationship between happy/satisfied employees and productive employees.

Pursuing that inner sense of freedom, security, and reassurance are core to creating psychological well-being. Asking the “why” for all we do. Why are we working? Why pursue financial freedom? Why a better health? This helps to create a sense of purpose for all we do. We are choosing to stay with a job maybe because it gives us meaning, or maybe we need to seek alternative options because it does not contribute to our happiness adequately. The positive psychology scholarship clearly defines the rationale for positive thinking.

Sunil Ramlall, Ph.D. 

Handbook of Research on Future of Work and Education: Implications for Curriculum Delivery and Work Design

Handbook of Research on Future of Work and Education: Implications for Curriculum Delivery and Work Design

Sunil Ramlall - Author