Last Thursday, Waynesburg University welcomed researchers from Carnegie Mellon University to the Baily Room in the Benedum Dining Hall for a presentation on research about the Greene County workforce.
The study was supported by a grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC), and is centered around “developing skills matching methodologies for individual and community uses, interviewing employers and surveying local workers,” according to a handout given out by the research team.
Researchers Jillian Miles and Valerie Karplus looked at data from four industries– data centers, electrical equipment, pharmaceuticals and electric arc furnace (EAF) steel. Miles explained how those industries were chosen.
“We were specifically looking at industries that were projected to grow by occupation over the next five to ten years,” Miles said. “Narrow that down by ones that we thought were feasible in the southwest Pennsylvania area.”
Stacey Brodak, Vice President for Institutional Advancement and University Relations, offered opening remarks before turning the podium over to researcher Valerie Karplus, who asked audience members, composed of Greene County leaders, what their biggest concerns were about the Greene County workforce.
Miles was glad to hear feedback from Greene County natives.
“Being integrated into the conversation is always helpful,” Miles said. “Oftentimes, we’re buried in the data ourselves. Coming up and hearing the discussions is really important.”
Karplus turned it over to Miles, who presented the three key takeaways, along with the data to back up those points.
Key Takeaways
- Announced job numbers from an investment are not always realized.
In other words, there are more jobs announced than workers in those industries. That could be as a result of open facilities not being at their capacity, or an overestimation of full-time jobs.
- Community priorities may be in tension when evaluating investments.
Data centers and pharmaceuticals pay more than county averages, but the take home pay is highest for EAF steel because of the higher number of people at those facilities.
- Industry investments are not created equal on measures of workforce readiness and competitive advantages.
How commonly found are the skills and occupations needed here? How much will it cost to pay workers? Is Greene County ready to fill the expected demand with its current workforce? Pharmaceuticals could have a huge impact, offering high-paying jobs, but it may be tough to fill jobs with local workers.
“The biggest challenge is understanding the actual occupational composition of these facilities,” Miles said. “We had a process to use resume data and understand the representativeness of that data to estimate those compositions. What we found we thought was really interesting in that separation between announced jobs and what we actually see in the plants.”
This presentation was another of the several collaborations between Waynesburg and CMU, according to Brodak.
In terms of what’s next for furthering the research, Miles said they plan to have an initial report out “in the January time frame.”
In terms of what’s next for furthering the research, Miles said they plan to have an initial report out “in the January time frame.”