Alabama Workforce Secretary Greg Reed underscored new job-training investments and concerns over young adults’ workforce participation during an East Walker Chamber of Commerce membership meeting Thursday, Oct. 15.
Reed said the state is positioned to receive significant federal and state resources aimed at expanding training opportunities and addressing labor shortages across several industries.
Among the largest upcoming investments is $203 million in federal funding for rural healthcare, with 30% of those funds required to be spent on workforce training programs.
“It’s not just, ‘Let’s pay the bills at the hospital until the money runs out,’” Reed said. “Let’s find ways for significant impacts on rural Alabama in being able to grow this opportunity.”
Reed said the department is working with the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and the Governor’s Office on administering the funding. He pointed to rural communities surrounding Walker County as areas where additional healthcare resources and workforce development could have a significant impact.
Healthcare remains one of the state’s most pressing workforce concerns, Reed said, identifying nurses as Alabama’s largest occupational shortage.
“The number one deficit we have is nurses,” Reed said. “Number one, healthcare workers in general.”
Colleges are also struggling to recruit nursing instructors, Reed said, partially because nurses with advanced degrees can often earn substantially more in clinical practice than in teaching positions.
Reed also acknowledged major investments in career technical education, including an additional $250 million allocated by the Alabama Legislature over the past two years.
Walker County is expected to benefit directly through development of a new career technical facility at the Heman Drummond Center of Innovation.
“There is nothing else like it in the state of Alabama,” Reed said. “Nothing close.”
He said the facility, combined with partnerships involving Bevill State Community College, Walker County Schools and Jasper City Schools, could help expose students to a wider range of career opportunities before they leave high school.
“We have got to let young people know the work is good, opportunities are plentiful and scholarships can be yours,” Reed said.
The department’s strategy also includes apprenticeships, and participation in such programs has increased by about 14% year over year, he said.
Reed said those programs are especially important for people who cannot afford to stop working while receiving additional training.
“A lot of folks have already got a dog, or a car payment, or a little kid, and they can’t just quit and get trained,” Reed said.
The state is also preparing for the expansion of Workforce Pell, a new federal funding source that Reed said will help pay for short-term credentialing programs lasting roughly eight to 14 weeks.
Those programs could include training for occupations such as truck driving, machining and other skilled trades.
Reed said the new funding represents a significant shift because federal Pell resources historically have not been available for many shorter-term workforce training programs.
While Reed pointed to growth in wages, apprenticeships and employment, he said workforce participation among younger adults remains a serious concern.
Alabama’s participation rate among workers ages 25 to 55 is about 80%, Reed said, but participation among adults ages 18 to 26 is considerably weaker.
“Those 18- to 26-year-olds a decade from now are going to be our prime-age workers,” Reed said. “If that number goes off the cliff, our economy can’t stand it.”
To reach more young adults, Reed said the department is experimenting with targeted advertising, including campaigns aimed at people using online gaming and streaming platforms.
The broader challenge in young people, he said, is not primarily a lack of willingness to work. In most cases, people are unaware of scholarships, apprenticeships or training opportunities that could help them move into higher-paying careers.
Reed cited approximately $77 million in scholarship funding that went unclaimed in Alabama in 2023 as an example of the disconnect.
“A lot of folks want to do more,” Reed said. “They just don’t know how to access the opportunity.”
Alabama has added about 20,600 jobs year over year, Reed said. Workforce indicators are generally moving in the right direction, though labor shortages remain across healthcare, accounting, skilled trades and education.
“A lot has been accomplished but there is much more to be accomplished,” Reed said.
