ICYMI: Workforce in Georgia: Filling the Gaps

In case you missed it, last month, Georgia Trend Magazine highlighted the PSA series created by Lt. Governor Burt Jones to address the importance of a trained and educated workforce in Georgia and his partnership with Champ Bailey to highlight workforce opportunities offered across the state:

Workforce in Georgia: Filling the Gaps

Policymakers, communities and employers are using data to drive novel workforce solutions across Georgia.

By: Patty Rasmussen

“Matthew Emerson is a senior at Newton County’s Eastside High School who plans to study aviation mechanics. This past spring, he visited a top aviation university in Florida and the aviation program at one of Georgia’s technical colleges. But what grabbed his attention was touring an aviation mechanics apprenticeship program.

Emerson says he learns better in an applied, hands-on setting.

“I know I enjoy and want to do things having to do with aviation,” he says. “So, when I have that topic mixed with subjects like math, it helps me understand it more and learn it. At my school, the pressure is to go to a traditional four-year college. But I’m leaning more toward an apprenticeship program because it’s not as much ‘school’ as going to a traditional college.”

A New Post-Secondary Narrative

State and local officials, economic developers and industry leaders, who have created tens of thousands of jobs in Georgia but are struggling to fill them, want to hear more stories like Emerson’s in the future. After years of relative silence about alternatives to college, the state is amplifying the message that there are multiple post-secondary career pathways.

In June, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and Champ Bailey, an NFL Hall of Fame cornerback and University of Georgia football great, starred in three public service announcements highlighting workforce development resources available through the Technical

College System of Georgia (TCSG), Georgia’s College and Career Academies, and other public-private partnerships, including the opportunities available on the Department of Labor WorkSource Georgia website.

“Addressing workforce shortages is a policy issue we can all agree on – and should,” Jones said via email. “As a business owner, I know firsthand that innovative solutions and bringing awareness to resources will help solve our workforce problems. We recognize that attending a traditional four-year college as a road to employment isn’t for everyone. We need to ensure that resources are available and barriers are removed when Georgians transition from school to work. A return to vocational training, practical skills training and real-world experience is critical to ensuring we have a competitive and growing workforce.”

The full article can be found here: https://www.georgiatrend.com/2024/09/30/workforce-in-georgia-filling-the-gaps/