Leaders of key state agencies and organizations stressed the critical importance of collaboration between the business and education sectors to develop a sustainable and effective workforce system that serves the needs of Kentucky businesses and residents during a meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Economic Development and Workforce Investment on Thursday.
The Statewide Workforce and Talent Team (SWATT), which includes the Kentucky Department of Economic Development, Kentucky Department of Education and Labor, Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) and the Kentucky Council of Higher Education (CPE), shared the group’s unified efforts to develop a streamlined workforce development system that will provide practical solutions for the state.
The group has four main goals:
- Business-centric: Adopt an industry-focused, data-driven approach to address talent challenges.
- Alignment: Improve communication and trust among employees.
- Talent Strategy: Providing effective solutions to companies in line with industry demands.
- Employer Relationships: Cultivate and maintain strong relationships to address workforce needs.
“Our shared goal is to get employers the resources they need to help Kentuckians get jobs. It all starts with employers. Employers are job creators,” said Education and Labor Secretary Jamie Link.
Link said since the group was founded, its main focus has been how to increase Kentucky's workforce participation rate.
Kentucky Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ashli Watts said the chamber was focused on solving employers' workforce needs through policies and programs. Watts said if the issues continue, Kentucky's economic momentum will slow.
“We found that 75 percent of Kentucky businesses are struggling to find the talent they need for open positions,” Watts said. “Our hope is that the seeds we're planting with SWATT, where our key partners meet monthly to discuss the companies they're working with and triage the workforce needs of Kentucky employers, will be sustained under any administration.”
Kentucky Economic Development Secretary Jeff Noel emphasized that the state is at a crossroads and the best way to move forward is to implement systemic change through key partnerships.
“We've attracted a lot of jobs here, but jobs are changing and the world is changing. To really impact our 150,000-plus employers, it's all about systems and processes. To create systemic change, those processes have to be in place. And to do that, these partnerships are essential,” Noel said.
Each leader spoke about how every business has different and diverse needs, and each member of SWATT is represented to provide a different, yet streamlined, solution to address those needs.
“This SWATT framework will help reduce redundancy and duplication across the state, improving acceptance for businesses who choose our state as a place to base, expand or most importantly, stay here,” said KCTCS Chairman Dr. Ryan Qualls.
Link said through collaboration and communication, SWATT works to ensure employers understand what services are available to them and why it's important to have a single point of contact to best serve businesses. The group also stressed that it wants to be a resource to the General Assembly as it develops policy and decides how to allocate resources.
CPE President Dr. Aaron Thompson spoke about developing Kentucky’s current and future workforce and the important role higher education plays at SWATT.
“We cannot build and sustain an economy without a highly educated workforce, so as we attract businesses we need to ensure we're not just giving them what they need now, but what they'll need in the future,” Thompson said.