PUTTING YOCO TO WORK: SEEKING SOLUTIONS FOR WORKFORCE CHALLENGES

Evolution of Workforce Challenges in YoCo

BY KEVIN J. SCHREIBER

PRESIDENT & CEO, YORK COUNTY ECONOMIC ALLIANCE

In York County, the unemployment rate hovers at 3.7 percent. We have a population of 440,000, with about 231,000 in the labor force, of whom 223,000 are employed. Meaning that there are an approximately 7,800 unemployed York County residents. While this is excellent news for our community, indicating that most residents have secure employment, this creates a new and unchartered obstacle for employers. The York County Economic Alliance consistently hears from our members and partners the need to educate, train, attract, and retain a workforce in YoCo. This sentiment is true for all major industries – from trades and manufacturing, to healthcare, to leaders in education.

Through our strategic planning process, the YCEA has dedicated resources to determining how we can move the needle in the workforce challenge. This past June, we hosted a Business and Education Luncheon to bring school district superintendents, representatives from postsecondary education, and business leaders of our major industries to the table together to discuss challenges and solutions to the ongoing challenges facing our employment pipeline [read more on that on pages 10 & 11!]. This is the beginning of the process to develop a comprehensive countywide plan to train, retain, and attract the individuals needed to keep our industries humming here in YoCo. This plan will help identify the obstacles and opportunities, and help to set the priority agenda to meet the needs of our businesses while also giving a road map for all our workforce partners to collaboratively work together to best leverage resources.

When it comes to attracting employees from outside the region, to meet the demand of the workforce, the YCEA spearheads the “Creativity Unleashed” program – a talent attraction tool for businesses to showcase YoCo to prospective employees. Through video, print, and web presence, we engage local talent to share their “why York” story, and what they love about our community. This information is available to any business and organization throughout York County. It is all available at www. CreativityUnleashed.com. We look forward to aligning the Creativity Unleashed brand to our new countywide branding efforts that will launch in 2019.

The YCEA has also made a concerted effort to increase our outreach to women and minority-owned businesses through “Get Connected” events. Established initially to engage those smaller companies in The Yorktowne Hotel Project, it is our goal to involve as many local companies as possible in this historic renovation process. We recognize that smaller companies often don’t have the capacity to bid on large-scale projects, but through strategic partnerships, we hope more will be part of The Yorktowne Hotel. Furthermore, as the hotel will employ individuals in the hospitality sector, we have begun both a partnership with York College to engage its hospitality students and are developing a hospitality curriculum to help train future Yorktowne employees and individuals throughout this important industry in YoCo.

Whether it’s engaging small companies to achieve big goals, educating and retaining a local workforce, or attracting new “future lovers of YoCo,” the YCEA aims to help YOU solve your workforce challenges. We don’t have all the answers, but we look forward to working with you to identify and begin to move the needle on the adaptation and evolution of our YoCo workforce.

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PUTTING YOCO TO WORK: SEEKING SOLUTIONS FOR WORKFORCE CHALLENGES

From trades and manufacturing, to healthcare, to education, and beyond, it’s clear all major industries in YoCo face workforce struggles. With an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, the ability to train, attract, and retain a labor force to meet the demand has provided a new and unchartered obstacle. In this issue, workforce partners will discuss how they are identifying and implementing solutions, and how YCEA can assist.