Video: Workforce Study Underway In Golden Triangle

[syndicaster id=’6078629′]

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) — Part of being successful is planning for the future.

The Golden Triangle Development Link is doing just that.

The Link recently kicked off a study that evaluates the local work force and what can be done to make It even stronger.

Yokohoma, Steel Dynamics and Paccar are just a few of the thriving industries in the Golden Triangle.

These plants and their workers are proving to be successful, but now, the Golden Triangle Development Link wants to see where the next generation of workers will come from.

“What we are doing is conducting an in-depth work force study with Kate Macenroe who is a national consultant. We’ve worked with her on projects before and we will be doing a pretty good time length study anywhere from 4 to 6 months with her to look at the entire Golden Triangle and the agrigate to see what our work force is made of, where it can grow, where it needs to grow, where it’s coming from and look at a number of factors to give us an idea of where we can go in the future,” said Macaulay Whitaker, Vice-President of The Link

Whitaker says there have been no problems with the workforce so far, but as times change, more women are employed in manufacturing jobs.

She says they want industries that appeals to both men and women alike.

“And we are looking to market every person in our community. We want everyone to know there are opportunities out there for you, you are not limited by physical ability, you are not limited just because you think women cant lift a lot and they shouldn’t be abel to work there, we’ve got robots for that now. So its really not a problem, we want to make sure we’re not excluding any segment of the work force and to show them what opportunities are right here in the Golden Triangle for them,” said Whitaker.

The study is already underway and will be collecting data from employees that work in the Golden Triangle industries.

Whitaker says she hopes the study will help attract even more businesses to the Golden Triangle.

” We know that creating a workforce pipeline is paramount for every community in the United States. We want to know specifically what our pipeline looks like, what we can market to the best of our ability and how we can grow here. Whether the outcome is yes, you have a problem or no you don’t, we still need to grow regardless,” added Whitaker.

The study is slated to run until the spring.