Tag: Workforce
Despite Low Unemployment, State’s Economy Suffers From Workforce Participation Slump
MONTGOMERY — Alabama’s 3.1% unemployment rate is the lowest in the Southeast and among the lowest in the country. State leaders have repeatedly pointed to this impressive mark as a sign of the state’s economic recovery from the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw unemployment soar to nearly 14% last year.
Yet, employers across the state are struggling to find enough workers to fill jobs, forcing some to cut back business hours or production.
Why the economic disparity? It could have to do with the number of Alabamians actually participating in the workforce, a figure that has shrunk during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more.
Alabama Workforce Council Outlines 2021 Plans
MONTGOMERY — A new report says that while facing unprecedented impediments due to the pandemic, Alabama has been able to weather a dire employment situation but needs to make gains if it wants to meet an ambitious workforce goal.
According to the Alabama Workforce Council’s 2021 annual report released earlier this month, the state is making progress on Gov. Kay Ivey’s “Strong Start, Strong Finish” initiative to add 500,000 newly credentialed workers to the state’s workforce by 2025.
To reach the Success Plus postsecondary education attainment goal, Alabama must maintain current rates of attainment and significantly increase the number of people who enroll in programs and earn all types of postsecondary credentials, the report says.
If Ivey’s 2025 goal of adding 500,000 highly skilled employees is reached, it would mean that roughly 60% of Alabama’s workforce would hold postsecondary credentials, degrees, and certificates of value. Read more.
More on the topic:
Alabama Innovation Commission Hones Its Focus
Business Education Alliance: High-Level Skills and Education Needed to Meet Workforce Needs
Alabama faces a shortage of 200,000 highly skilled workers to fulfill industry job predictions by 2025 unless it aligns workforce development programs and collaborations between business and education with what employers will need, said the Business Education Alliance in a report released today.
As Alabama shifts away from an industrial-based to knowledge-based economy, the BEA report stated, 60% of the working population will need to attain college-level degrees or credentials to qualify for jobs in 2025. Data for 2017 showed that 43% of the Alabama workforce possessed a college degree or other post-secondary education. Read more.
