As the skills gap continues to widen and create more problems for employers looking for qualified labor, EDSI (Educational Data Systems, Inc.) is doing its part to help both companies and employees, writes Lini Kadaba for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The company has spent the last four decades helping to place disadvantaged and laid-off workers in jobs from its 10 offices, including one in Chester.

“We run programs throughout the country to help people better their lives,” said Roe Falcone, EDSI’s regional director of operations.

Advertisement

Falcone heads up welfare-to-work programs and similar government and nonprofit-funded retraining efforts across the Philadelphia area. EDSI uses its proprietary Skilldex system, which identifies the skill needs of employees. It then matches job seekers to employers while highlighting any gaps and ways to close them.

One of EDSI’s latest endeavors also came to Philadelphia last summer. The “Bridging the Gap” program is a three-week construction boot camp that prepares participants for apprenticeships.

In addition to the public sector, EDSI also offers its services to the private sector. Ken Mall, managing director of workforce consulting at EDSI, works with private sector manufacturing companies “to help define what their skills needs are today, as well as in the future.”

Read more about the efforts in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.