By Jacqueline Pitts
Kentucky Chamber of Commerce
The demands of today’s economy require a strategic alignment between employers, education and workforce partners, and the state in order to better support Kentuckians as they enter into today’s workforce. By making Talent Pipeline Management (TPM) a priority, more than 200 employers across Kentucky are working toward this alignment and seeing results.
Our state spends approximately $1.2 billion every year to train and upskill Kentuckians into career pathways. TPM employers have evaluated 148 critical positions through competency and credential analysis helping determine which educational requirements are essential when hiring into critical positions. The Kentucky Chamber Workforce Center has compiled this information in the TPM Educational Insights Map to provide a state-level and regional view of what academic requirements employers have deemed most critical.
Kentucky Chamber Workforce Center Talent Pipeline Management System Director LaKisha Miller said, “TPM has produced educational insights directly from the business community. The TPM Educational Insights Map will help the business community send more precise signals to our education and workforce partners to train, develop, and upskill in the career pathways most needed to support Kentucky’s economy.”
Through this work, employers have determined that 94% of the 148 critical jobs evaluated through TPM require a high school diploma or equivalent. Additionally, 49% of those jobs require a college degree. This data proves that greater educational attainment will lead to a more skilled and productive workforce in Kentucky and will prepare the state for the jobs needed to support the economy in two to four years. Click here to view the complete report.
Since the start of the pandemic, Kentucky has lost close to 296,000 jobs. As of November 2020, the state has seen some jobs return to the economy, but there are still 64,000 less Kentuckians employed than in February 2020. Innovations in technology are occurring every day, changing our world and our work at an unprecedented speed.
Mary Pat Regan, Kentucky’s Deputy Secreatary of Education and Workforce Development, stated, “We have to prepare Kentuckians and our communities for this new phase in workforce development. The technical skills we learned five years ago are nearly obsolete, making up-skilling our workforce a necessity. Our employers play a vital role in driving conversations on the skill sets and talents needed to build Kentucky’s workforce.”
By fall 2021, TPM Kentucky will roll out regionally aligned professional development sessions to introduce counselors and education partners to career pathways within Kentucky’s key industries. If you are an employer in need of talent, get involved by contacting [email protected] to be connected with your local TPM Project Manager.
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