On March 3, 2011, more than 50 employers from across the tri-state region attended Skill Shortages in a Time of High Unemployment, an employer forum presented by the Employers First Regional Workforce Consortium and the Greater Cincinnati Workforce Network.
Following a keynote address by J.Domenic Giandomenico of the Institute for a Competitive Workforce, forum participants were engaged through interactive polling technology around employers’ current needs, their thoughts about the region, experiences with the public workforce system and the priorities they suggest for moving forward. Some key findings:
- 92% of employers plan to hire this year, either through replacements or expansion
- Employers believe that the biggest barriers to those who can't find jobs are a lack of technical skills (44%) and lack of work ethic (42%)
- The top two priorities for regional workforce efforts are creating a joint plan with strategic goals shared by multiple partners (50%) and attracting more funds to the region for skills development (21%)
