September 8, 2022
 |
Virginia Capitol Building

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, every Monday, when Gov. Glenn Youngkin sits down with his Cabinet members to chew over issues that cut across each one’s responsibilities, one item is always on the agenda: workforce development.

“It stretches across every area” and will be the central focus of his requests to the General Assembly when it convenes in January, Youngkin told a group of business and civic leaders in Newport News last month.

He told them he’s working on a plan to bring together the many agencies with their several hundred programs aimed at making sure Virginians have the skills they need for work and that companies can find workers with the knowledge and skills they need.

It’s the same approach the governor pursued for the new Partnership with Petersburg community development push, bringing together government, schools, businesses and nonprofits to focus on new ways to work together to boost local economies.

Take the Virginia Young Adults Survey, for Virginians age 18-25.

One early example, he said, is Virginia Beach-based Drone’s Up Project to launch a drone operators training center and a new credential that should help students in their job searches.

Restructuring Virginia’s workforce development efforts is a big task because of the stark differences in the state’s regional job markets.

Building skills and listening to business needs is a lot different in Southwest Virginia, with a labor force participation rate of just 45%, than in the high-tech corridors of Northern Virginia or the shipyard-driven economy of the Peninsula, where Newport News Shipbuilding is in an intensive push to hire 5,000 people this year and 21,000 over the next five years.

The Eastern Shore Community College is working closely with the NASA Wallops Flight Facility, Northrup Grumman and Rocket Lab to recruit trainees for the jobs that are expected to be open as the facility becomes able to launch more commercial flights over the next few years.  For more information, contact the Eastern Shore Community College.

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