Task force discusses population, job solutions for Eastern Kentucky

Task force discusses population, job solutions for Eastern Kentucky Nov. 14, 2024

Rep. Michael Sarge Pollock, R-Campbellsville, asks about infrastructure in Eastern Kentucky during Thursday’s Workforce Attraction and Retention Task Force. A high-resolution photo can be found here.

FRANKFORT — The Workforce Attraction and Retention Task Force heard from an organization on Thursday that is seeking to improve Eastern Kentucky’s population growth and workforce problem.

Shaping Our Appalachian Region, or SOAR, is a nonprofit focused on increasing the economic mobility and population in Eastern Kentucky, said Executive Director Colby Hall.

Hall said the population in Eastern Kentucky is aging faster than the national average and people are moving away. Long term joblessness is also an issue. The shrinking coal industry, childcare deserts, and housing and transportation issues are among some of the barriers to workforce participation, he added.

“You’re starting to get into multiple generations of families and individuals that have been outside the workforce,” Hall said. “They haven’t been attached to an industry. People have been in survival mode.”

EKY Remote, which received $1.5 million from the general assembly, is one way SOAR is working to bring new people to the region, Hall said. The program launched in 2023 to bring individuals with remote jobs to live in Eastern Kentucky. To date, 36 adults and 14 children have relocated to the area through the program.

“So far, just in the people that have moved, you’re already seeing an estimated economic impact of about $1.5 million and $200,000 in direct tax contributions,” Hall said.

Getting the domestic population back into the workforce is also a goal of SOAR. Hall said there are more than 150,000 people across 36 Eastern Kentucky counties between 16 and 64 years old who are not working.

One way SOAR is working to bring these individuals back into the workforce is the Recompete Program. The program recently received a $40 million federal grant, and the legislature previously invested $4 million in matching funds, Hall said.

“This grant is going to provide a multitude of resources and supports where we’re going to find them and bring them back into the jobs that are in sectors like healthcare, sectors like infrastructure-related projects, and emerging opportunities in the remote workspace,” Hall said.

Task force co-chair Rep. Robert Duvall, R-Bowling Green, asked Hall what impact Pikeville’s healthcare industry and education opportunities are having on the region.

Hall said it is “huge.”

“There’s no question that healthcare is the No. 1 job-creating sector in the region in terms of good paying jobs, family-sustaining wage jobs,” he added.

Rep. Michael Sarge Pollock, R-Campbellsville, said the federal funding Kentucky received in response to COVID-19 has been nice for investments into infrastructure.

“Is the infrastructure there (in Eastern Kentucky) that you see as far as roads, as far as to provide that advertisement for employers to come to Eastern Kentucky?” Pollock asked.

Hall said the infrastructure piece he is “very excited” about is internet infrastructure.

“I’m really excited as the economy evolves, the opportunities that are going to come via digital and remote employment,” Hall said, adding he doesn’t think it will be a “silver bullet” but a number that “can move the needle.”

Sen. Shelley Funke Frommeyer, R-Alexandria, said she wanted to know more about why the workforce population is struggling in Eastern Kentucky and solutions.

“What are we doing with that grant to attract some meaningful employers that will hold people accountable?” she asked, adding she wonders if there are too many resources available that may be inspiring people not to work.

Hall said the grant’s launch date was Oct. 1, so SOAR is just getting started on the Recompete Program.

“Inside of that are some various seven or eight different interventions that we’re going to try and test to try to prove to be some new models for activating this section of the workforce,” Hall added.

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https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/publicservices/pio/release_archive2024.html#WARTF111424