State Leaders Should Pursue a Bold Strategy for Rapid Workforce Growth, Kentucky Chamber Says – The Bottom Line

A daring, complete technique for rising Kentucky’s workforce is the main focus of a new temporary launched by the Kentucky Chamber Heart for Coverage and Analysis, which supplies key knowledge and suggestions for state leaders to contemplate.

The temporary famous that after twenty years of sluggish workforce progress, demand for staff within the Commonwealth is considerably outpacing provide, leaving Kentucky employers unable to fill open positions. Between 2001 and 2021, Kentucky’s workforce grew by lower than three p.c. This summer season, Kentucky noticed 100,000 extra open jobs than people actively in search of work.

With main investments being made in Kentucky, together with the 5,000 new jobs which are projected to return from the Ford Battery Plant in Hardin County, the Chamber says Kentucky should bear a “workforce transformation.”

“Whereas Kentucky is seeing super private-sector investments, our workforce challenges are creating an unsustainable state of affairs for companies,” stated Kentucky Chamber Board Chair Kevin Smith, vp of Kentucky bourbon affairs for Beam Suntory. “Kentucky wants a shared technique for rising a high-skilled workforce to fill the open jobs of right this moment and tomorrow.”

Within the temporary, the Chamber says Kentucky’s technique for fast workforce progress ought to “embody retaining Kentuckians already energetic within the workforce, attracting new staff from different states, and pulling into the workforce Kentuckians sitting on the sidelines.”

To realize this progress, the Chamber lists greater than a dozen coverage suggestions from the Kentucky Chamber Basis’s workforce report from final yr.

“For many years now, the state has been happy with low charges of workforce participation and meager progress within the measurement of its workforce,” the temporary says. “With so many alternatives coming to the state, now’s the time for state management to construct a daring plan to fill the roles of right this moment and tomorrow and ship on the promise of a brilliant financial future for the Commonwealth.”

Click on right here to obtain the temporary