The New England states continue to experience slow growth and slow recovery of the jobs lost in the 2008 to 2009 recession. The main reason for this is the continued weakness in global and U.S. economic conditions. The U.S. and New England economies continue to be affected by the weak European economy and sovereign debt crisis and by weakness in domestic and regional housing markets. The expectation is that the region will not return to its pre-recession employment level until 2015. As the national economy improves, albeit slowly, and some global markets expand and with them demand for manufactured products and high value-added services, the region's economic outlook will be influenced by the matching of workforce capabilities and skills with the emerging needs of employers. There is reported lack of education and training in the areas of job-specific skills and basic skills, and a shortage of "middle-skilled" workers. Rapid increases in technology have left significant numbers of middle skilled and other workers ill-prepared, and new and changing technology will likely cause future mismatches. All New England education institutions, and particularly community colleges, have been asked to help address skilled workforce mismatch concerns. The challenges in the current economy provide opportunity for education institutions to more tightly align their programs and curriculum with sectors of the economy that are growing. With its strong educational infrastructure, New England has an opportunity to do this better than other regions and to continue to have its "educational" advantage be an "economic" advantage.