Guest Column: Louisiana can only win with a stronger workforce

Louisiana’s recent tax reforms have improved the state’s competitiveness, but lasting economic growth will stall without a stronger workforce. That is why enacting policies to help businesses meet their workforce needs must start now.

Across industries, employers continue to report difficulty finding workers with the skills required for their jobs. At the same time, many Louisianans struggle to connect with opportunities that offer good-paying jobs and long-term career paths.

This disconnect is the reason Public Affairs Research Council and Leaders for a Better Louisiana are joining forces to call for the state’s renewed and sustained focus on workforce development, particularly in the ongoing legislative session.

This is not simply a labor shortage. It is a persistent mismatch between the needs of businesses and the preparation, awareness and mobility of our workforce.

If Louisiana wants to fully capitalize on its economic reforms, infrastructure investments and emerging industries, we must strengthen the systems that connect education and training to the needs of employers.

The challenge is visible in the data.

Louisiana’s labor force participation rate hovers around 58% — 43rd worst among states and several points below the national average. That gap represents over 100,000 working-age adults who are neither working nor actively seeking work. Even modest improvements would translate into significant gains for families, businesses and the state’s economy.

At the same time, the state reports roughly 124,000 jobs open statewide, compared with about 88,000 individuals actively seeking employment. This imbalance reflects issues involving workforce solutions for employers, skills relevance and alignment in education and the ability of individuals to navigate from education or training into the available jobs.

These pressures are unfolding at a pivotal moment for Louisiana’s economy.

The state has seen significant jobs announcements and capital investment in recent years across manufacturing, energy, technology and other sectors. While these projects create opportunity, these announcements alone do not guarantee broad-based prosperity.

Without a workforce prepared at the necessary scale with the right skills or employers able to address their talent shortages, Louisiana risks constraining growth and limiting the benefits of that investment.

This is not a failure of workers or employers: It is a systems challenge.

Louisiana’s workforce development, education and economic development efforts often don’t operate in alignment. Students struggle to understand how academic choices connect to careers. Employers struggle to find training partners responsive to rapidly changing skill needs. Workforce programs are difficult to navigate, fragmented across agencies and inconsistent in their coordination.

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Improving outcomes requires strengthening these connections. Better career counseling can help students make informed decisions about education and training pathways. Clearer workforce signals can help institutions align programs with high-demand fields. Stronger partnerships among business, higher education and workforce agencies can accelerate the transition from classroom to career.

Louisiana already has examples of progress to build upon.

The M.J. Foster Promise Program is funding working-age adults to earn credentials in high-demand fields. Industry partnerships, apprenticeships and technical training programs are expanding in key sectors. Regional collaborations are demonstrating how employers and educators can work together to meet workforce needs. These efforts show that targeted investments and intentional alignment can produce real results.

But isolated successes are not enough. Louisiana must scale what works and remove barriers that limit participation.

That means simplifying how individuals access education and training, strengthening coordination across agencies and institutions, improving transparency around outcomes and ensuring accountability for results. Workforce development should function as an integrated strategy, not a collection of disconnected programs.

The stakes extend beyond economic development. Workforce policy is also economic mobility policy. When Louisianans can access training that leads to stable, well-paying careers, families benefit. Communities benefit. Employers benefit. The state benefits.

Conversely, when individuals remain disconnected from opportunity, the consequences are felt in lower incomes, reduced growth and widening inequality.

Louisiana has meaningful economic opportunity ahead. The question is whether the state can connect its people to that growth at the scale required. Workforce development is the bridge between economic development and shared prosperity for Louisiana families. We believe that workforce reform is one of the urgent issues Louisiana leaders must address during the 2026 legislative session.