A Better Workforce Is One Element to Business Recruitment

We all know the world has changed a lot from 20 or even 10 years ago. Skill sets that were valuable and desired by employers no longer play an important part in our local economy. Carter County’s unemployment rate of 7.1 percent is far from being the highest, but it is still above the state unemployment rate of 6.3 percent. This could be an indicator that our local economy hasn’t caught up to the state economy yet but, coupled with the lower per capita income in Carter County, it is more likely that we lack the workforce locally to adequately compete for jobs in demand today.

I hear old stories about how in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and even into the 80s students would graduate from high school one Sunday, and the next Monday morning they would wake and go to work in the plants or one of the other manufacturing facilities in Elizabethton. That was a great time in Elizabethton! You had to have little or no training, you had a job for life, and made a decent wage to support your family. Unfortunately those days are gone. Today even high paying manufacturing requires in depth training or some education

According to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, 50 percent of the fastest growing jobs today through 2022 will require some type of post-high school education or training. Half of those jobs requiring some post-high school education or training will require a Bachelor’s degree or higher. To give this a little perspective, in the future 4 people are employed in a growth industry in Elizabethton, 2 will have to have post-high school training or education and 1 will have to have a Bachelor’s degree or higher. We have some work to do!

Fortunately for Elizabethton and Carter County, we have great resources to tap into. Northeast State at Elizabethton offers many programs in which you can get some basic course classes or needed certifications for a program. Tennessee College of Applied Technology also offers a variety of training and certification programs. Carter County is also home to the Northeast Tennessee location of Alliance for Business and Training (AB&T).This is a great place to visit if you want to get a certification or training, but don’t know where to start. They can also help you in finding financing sources to pay for your training either through grants or through financial aid sources. You can also contact my office or the Library for more information and resources on starting a new career or getting training.

So let’s all work to give Elizabethton and Carter County a better workforce so that we can attract, retain, and grow businesses, industry, and jobs in Elizabethton. Let’s talk about it!