In an economy that requires a competitive, individual drive for jobs, business professionals and state officials united to discuss how they would create employment opportunities.
A panel of four government officials presented a Workforce Study Committee public forum yesterday in the Amanda J. Cunningham Leadership Center.
State Representatives Nancy Garland, D-20th; Tim Derickson, R-53rd; Andy Thompson, R-93rd; and Nan Baker, R-16th, spoke with local business professionals about increasing workers in the labor force.
Athens is the third college town this team has visited as part of an initiative to increase employment in Ohio. The panelists said they already have been to Columbus and Oxford and have plans to stop at Bowling Green State University and Lorain County Community College.
“Even in these hard economic times, there are still many employment opportunities,” said Derickson, who serves as chairman of the Workforce Development Study Committee. “Today, in Ohio, there are 50,000 positions available. Job creation and retention is essential. This committee has brought together the best minds to share ideas.”
About 50 business professionals were in attendance, and the panel heard presentations from several of them.
Many professionals arrived to gain inspiration for their own organizations.
“The economic outlook has not been very good,” said Joe Nocera, who works in Workforce Development at Belmont Technical College in St. Clairsville, Ohio. “I hope to hear some new ideas from the state to further our workforce and get people working again.”
The state’s unemployment was at 9.1 percent in August, a statistic that trickles down into Ohio’s communities.
“We very much want to understand what the state is doing to better understand the employment needs of our community,” said Laurene Huffman, executive director of workforce development at Washington State Community College in Marietta, Ohio.
With job hunting becoming increasingly difficult, more people are seeking a degree; community colleges saw increased enrollment between 2009 and 2010.
Stacia Edwards, who works with Economic Advancement for the Ohio Board of Regents highlighted the value of a college education.
“Available workers are overwhelmingly underskilled. Ohio’s unemployment is not a linear problem; it can only be addressed through education and training,” she said. “We have the government really concerned about this. It is going to take a while. Instead of focusing on our short-term wins, we need to dig our heels in and work on the long-term strategy.”
Neil Leist, superintendent of Clermont Northeastern Local Schools, spoke on the importance of collaborating with other businesses, which he called “reality road map to success.”
The state representatives agreed.
“Relationship building is everything,” Baker said.
Participants said they recognized the task facing them was a difficult one.
“I think all these testimonies were really great,” Huffman said. “There is a lot of information to make a report or recommend. The systems are so complicated and varied. I cannot imagine the task ahead of the panelists. It will be very difficult to determine solutions.”
sj950610@ohiou.edu
