Liberty County Development Authority members are weighing a proposal to join a regional workforce development effort.
Anna Chafin, president and CEO of RISE, returned to the LCDA where she got her start. Earlier this year, Chafin joined the Savannah Economic Development Authority to lead its workforce development initiative, after having served as executive director of the Development Authority of Bryan County. It was there she spearheaded the efforts to land the Hyundai metaplant at the Bryan County mega site.
Chafin unveiled the Regional Industry Support Enterprise, or RISE, to LCDA members at their meeting Monday morning.
Her staff includes her former number two at the DABC, Justin Farquhar.
Her team also includes Maria Whitfield, who worked for DRT America in Effingham County for eight years and with SNF in Riceboro for 10 years. Also on staff is Jennifer Collins from SEDA.
“Our team has over 50 years of experience,” Chafin said. “We think that brings a lot of value to our member counties.”
LCDA members did not indicate if they would agree to sign on but they were receptive to the pitch.
“The future is in regionalism,” said state Rep. Al Williams, the LCDA chairman. “You can’t be isolated and expect to compete. We want to not only be on the menu but to be at the table. That’s very important to us.”
Wadley, Donovan and Gutshaw did a workforce assessment following the announcement of the Hyundai metaplant. They were asked to identify labor supply challenges facing existing employees and how to alleviate future labor shortfalls.
The firm studied the communities within an hour’s drive of the metaplant, which goes beyond the four-county joint development authority that brought Hyundai to Bryan County.
A 93-question survey of existing industries and participation from other stakeholders, such as school systems, was enacted as part of the study.
“It’s an extremely lengthy study,” Chafin said. “We feel we got a robust document back.”
Chafin said there were seven key takeaways from the study, the first of which is that the current labor market is tight. According to the state Department of Labor, unemployment is at 3.1% and a record 4.95 million Georgians are employed. Liberty County’s unemployment rate for February also was 3.1%, and the number is the same for the Hinesville Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The February unemployment rate for the Coastal Georgia Local Workforce Development Area was even lower at 2.8%.
“We continue to have record low unemployment. It is not specific to our area,” Chafin said. “What differentiates us is we are doing something about it.”
Coastal Georgia’s population is continuing to grow, Chafin pointed out, but there remain several challenges to meeting workforce needs, detailed in the Wadley, Donovan and Gutshaw study.
The first was a concern from existing industries on how they were to retain their current workforce. The Hyundai metaplant initially announced an investment of $5.5 billion and an expected workforce of 8,100. Now those numbers have jumped to $7.6 billion in investment and a workforce of nearly 8,500 at full employment.
Hyundai and its suppliers are expected to employ more than 15,000 workers with an investment of $10 billion in Coastal Georgia when at full capacity.
The study also said competitive pay and enhancing employee retention have become increasingly important. Entry level wages in the industrial sector have risen 20% in the last two years, and Chafin said she expects they are going to continue to rise.
Meanwhile, RISE officials also are talking to industry partners about approaching their employees on career progression.
“Going from a job to a career will really resonate,” Chafin said.
And it’s not just Hyundai and its suppliers who will looking for top-notch workers — Chafin estimated that the region will have 16,000 openings between now and 2027.
“That’s a tall order,” she said, “but we have a plan.”
The current labor supply will be fully tapped by 2025, Chafin said, with a deficit of 1,500 between the number of jobs and available workers. And at the current rate of growth, that will continue through 2031.
“But that’s if we do nothing,” she said. “The better news is, we’re doing something. We have incredible resources. What we’re finding is they are under-utilized.”
The future workforce
Chafin said workforce development initiatives “must work to draw more high school graduates into industries, including manufacturing.”
“This to me is key,” she said. “There are meaningful careers our students can get into.”
Chafin said she expects RISE to spend a great deal of time working with local school systems and pointed out that a high school graduate can walk into a $50,000 a year job, with the right background.
“I think it is really changing the conversation and talking more about careers instead of just talking about jobs,” she said. “We’re trying to make sure parents, teachers and students are aware of all the options.
“Some parents think all students need to be destined for a four-year college. We’ve got to change a culture and mindset out there and that’s going to take some time. If we don’t get started, it will never happen.”
Another source of workers already trained and with proven track records is the group of soldiers leaving the service each year at Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield. These soldiers, who are not retiring after 20 years but leaving the service, are staying at only about a 40% clip, Chafin said, a much lower figure than she anticipated.
That number, Chafin acknowledged, “was the biggest surprise for me.”
“We need to better partner with Fort Stewart and Hunter and let’s talk with Kings Bay and get more of that military talent to stay here in the region,” she said.
Also, RISE staff has learned in conversations with Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield officials that there are about 3,000 spouses in search of employment.
There are also another 3,500 service members leaving their branches each year before retirement who are from the area and could be looking at moving back home, Chafin added.
RISE is looking at the retention rate for other states and their bases. One handicap Georgia has, compared to its neighbors, is the other states either have no income tax — such as Tennessee and Florida — or fully exempt military retirement income, such as North Carolina. Georgia’s income tax code exempts the first $35,000 in military retirement income. Any further exemptions, though, may be tough to get passed in the General Assembly, Williams said. “This is not going to be an easy lift to get military income tax exempted,” he said. “That opens a box.”
Jimmy McDonald added that the provision for the $35,000 exemption for military retirement income took three-anda- half years to get passed and signed into law.
Williams, though, also pointed out that Georgia is seeing a lot of people move there from Florida.
“That no tax gets eaten up in a hurry,” he said.
RISE will target the separating military and the retirees from area bases, including those in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
“They are skilled, trained and they have a great work ethic,” she said. “We need to do a better job of cracking the code to keep them here.”
RISE also held a summit with Fort Stewart to connect separating soldiers and their spouses to jobs in the region. Chafin said one of benefits of joining RISE for the local development authorities was sponsoring at least one job fair a year in their community and for Fort Stewart, that job fair might be held in Hinesville.
Hurdles to overcome
Chafin readily pointed out there are challenges, even for the current labor pool. Child care, or the lack of it, is seen as a major stumbling block.
“We believe it is a barrier right now for people to enter the workforce because they don’t have access to affordable and reliable childcare,” she said.
The lack of child care is a two-fold problem, Chafin noted. One, there are areas with a lack of facilities. Two, even in places where there are child care centers, there is a shortage of trained personnel. RISE is talking with Georgia Southern University on a regional study looking at child care needs and solutions.
Companies that include child care may be put themselves ahead of the game for the labor pool, according to Chafin. “The companies working to provide childcare will differentiate themselves,” she said.
Transportation also is a hindrance for many getting into the job market, Chafin said. The lack of reliable means getting to a job keeps some at home.
“This is keeping some people on the sidelines,” she said. “I think that lack of regional transit we have right now is limiting people from job opportunities they may be able to take advantage of.”
Chatham Area Transit has expressed an interest in reaching a solution, and Chafin also noted the Coastal Regional Commission’s transit buses.
Housing also is a challenge RISE will look at in the coming months. Georgia Tech has been commissioned to do a study of the four-county area and its second phase will include Liberty County.
“I think we all recognize we have a lack of affordable housing in our area,” Chafin said.
Every community will have access to the Georgia Tech and she envisions each community having its own solution to affordable housing.
“It’s not going to be a one size-fits-all approach,” Chafin said.
As RISE forms its partnerships, there will be six different working groups formed to focus on issues, including military retention and transportation. Other working groups will address the underrepresented in the workforce, including second-change hires — those who have been incarcerated — and youth, education and marketing.
Chafin said Georgia Southern president Dr. Kyle Marrero already has assigned a person from his staff to each of the six working groups.
Under marketing, RISE will try to reach other areas to entice workers for the hard-to-fill spots. The RISE visited Bowling Green, Kentucky, to see how that community has integrated its education with its business community. Chafin said future RISE members also will be invited to a trip to Bowling Green and RISE also intends to visit other East Coast cities on a recruiting venture.
On the RISE
SEDA has agreed to fund RISE through the first year. Chafin said the board directors will be split up by population among the target counties. Since Chatham County is the largest, it will have four of the 15 board member seats. The four middle tier counties — which includes Liberty — will have two seats each. The three smallest counties will have one seat each.
Costs to participate also will be split up by population. And Chafin anticipates growing the service area to as many as 20 counties, and possibly across the Savannah River to Jasper County in South Carolina, which is already within an hour’s drive of the metaplant.
Chafin emphasized her group isn’t going to replace current workforce development efforts. The key deliverable from the workforce study, she said, is a workforce development plan. “We want to be a facilitator,” she said, “a single organization that is quarterback workforce development within our region.”
Also on tap is a regional job board that existing industries can access and RISE also will meet with existing industries to help them recruit and retain employees.
“I think this is a fantastic benefit to have a central location where local job seekers can go and look for all industry jobs in our region,” Chafin said.
“I think workforce development is economic development today, tomorrow and in the future,” Chafin said. “Our team is going to wake up every day and be focused on workforce development. If we do this right, we’re going to be here indefinitely. Hopefully, it’s first of all an existing industry support and expansion organization. Workforce continues to be at the top of the list for companies looking to make a decision.”
The LCDA has until May 31 to determine if it will join the consortium.
“I think we’re all better together,” Chafin said. “I hope the Liberty County Development Authority will join us.”