CAREER TECHNICAL EDUCATION (CTE) GAP ANALYSIS
The main purpose of Career Technical Education (CTE) is to prepare learners to be college and career ready by providing core academic and technical skills necessary for them to achieve their career goals and attain economic success. CTE programs are designed to provide students with these skills and serve as a talent pipeline for the labor market of their region.
Program enrollment serves as the supply side of the labor market and Annual openings are used as a proxy measure to estimate the demand side of the labor market. Annual openings are a combination of new jobs and replacement jobs.The difference between the two is called the CTE Gap.
The goal of this analysis is to address unmet needs, improve access to CTE programs, and help provide a more skilled workforce to aid in economic development in the region.
For this analysis,
- CTE program enrollment data for 2022 – 2023 from Aztec High School is examined.
- Labor market projections (2020-2030) for the Northern workforce region of New Mexico is used to determine the labor market demand.
Currently, there are a total of 681 students enrolled in CTE programs at Aztec High School and there are 5,502 annual openings across these clusters.
| Clusters | Students Enrolled | Annual Openings |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources | 132 | 428 |
| Architecture & Construction | 132 | 1,729 |
| Education & Training | 51 | 908 |
| Health Science | 175 | 1,290 |
| Information Technology | 60 | 178 |
| Manufacturing | 106 | 817 |
| STEM | 75 | 152 |
| Total | 681 | 5,502 |
The graph below shows CTE completer data (2020-2023) plotted against Annual openings (2020-2030) for these clusters.
| Clusters | CTE Gap |
|---|---|
| Architecture & Construction | 1,647 |
| Health Science | 1,115 |
| Education & Training | 857 |
| Manufacturing | 711 |
| Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources | 296 |
| Information Technology | 118 |
| STEM | 77 |
As indicated in the table above the top 3 clusters with the largest gaps are in Architecture & Construction, Health Science and Education & Training. To learn more about the high-value occupations within these clusters, Explore Career Clusters.