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| State of the Workforce Study: Greater Richmond MSA Economy RICHMOND , VA — January 3, 2006 — Detailed results of the recent area labor market study by Chmura Analytics are now available. The study, funded by the Greater Richmond Chamber, the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc., John Tyler and J. Sargeant Reynolds Community Colleges, i s a comprehensive view of the regional workforce built around occupational skills, education, demographics, and industry cluster analysis. “We have needed this,” said Gregory H. Wingfield, President of the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. Wingfield went on to say that “the last time we had a good comprehensive regional workforce benchmark was in the late nineties.” Click here to download a PDF version of the study. The workforce is considered adequate based on MSA averages for population growth. Education levels are high with the area exhibiting a large number of higher education institutions. Overall high school dropout rates are low; however, averages can be misleading. One needs to ‘drill down' to gain an accurate diagnosis of the region. The report states, “Although the education averages for the Richmond MSA are strong, they vary dramatically by locality.” “This study helps us understand more about our future educational needs in the region and is an added tool to help in curriculum design,” said Gary Rhodes, President of J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College and Chairman of the Chamber's Workforce Advisory Council. “It also shows us the limitations of some of the education data”, Rhodes went on to say and “possibly hints at some steps we can take as a region to improve the reporting of the data.” The economic impact of a doubling in size of Fort Lee and the ripple effect were considered substantial. In terms of industry clusters, financial, chemical, pharmaceutical, and professional services were all upward trending and seen as attractive areas. Two areas of concern were noted. The first was transportation, “services are not keeping up with expanding population and employment growth which reduces job opportunities for some and limits employers' access to labor.” The other area of concern is crime, with Richmond rates higher than the state average. Threats would include significant variations among localities in SOL scores, dropout rates, foreign-born population, crime and education levels. The training or education gaps in engineering and two-year computer degrees versus a four -year degree were seen as a growing concern. Finally, concern was expressed over productivity slowing if younger workers are not properly trained to replace retirees. “It (Chmura Study) is a great first step and one I think as a community we all agreed we needed to take,” said Tom McCormick, Director of Human Resources at Infineon Technologies and Chairman of the Workforce Development Regional Oversight Board. The Oversight Board is made of elected officials, local Workforce Investment Board officials and business leaders. “There is a wealth of information in this report. It has been our intent all along to make this available to everyone in our region at no charge,” said Marshall W. Smith, President of John Tyler community College. “We now have a common tool that is regional in its scope, we can all use, that tells us exactly where we stand on a number of workforce issues; we no longer have to guess,” Smith commented. The study in its entirety is available on the J. Sargeant Reynolds (www.reynolds.edu) and John Tyler (www.jtcc.edu) Community Colleges' websites as well as the Greater Richmond Partnership, Inc. (www.grpva.com) and Chamber (www.grcc.com) websites. There is also an extensive executive summary comparing the Richmond Region results to comparable state and national figures. CONTACT:
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