One of the reasons that Chester County has had such a long record of success is that we continually seek to ask the right questions. This penchant was on full display recently at a workforce education summit titled, “Attracting Talent and Building an Employer Ready Workforce.”
The call for such a summit was voiced as a recommendation of VISTA 2025, the County’s economic development strategy. The impetus for the recommendation was a growing recognition that having a high quality workforce has emerged as a preeminent factor of continued economic health for a community. In many ways, in this new era, workforce is economic development.
The workforce summit brought together businesses and educators, as well as county elected officials and economic development professionals, to examine the current state of workforce issues impacting, and likely to disrupt, the future of Chester County. By making sure that we are “asking the right workforce questions,” the summit helps guide future actions to the correct responses.
The day was kicked off with a conversation between Dr. Larry Mussoline, Superintendent of the Downingtown Area School District, and Karen Flynn, President, West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc. The two discussed the current trends or “disrupters” facing employers and ultimately education. A few key disrupters were outlined in the summit’s keynote address delivered by Mark Lautman, the author of When the Boomers Bail: How Demographics Will Sort Communities Into Winners and Losers. Mr. Lautman’s remarks highlighted the accelerating pace of change in who will be working and how they will be working in the next decade.
He noted the imminent and ongoing departure of the “baby boomer” generation from the workforce and questioned whether there were enough skilled workers in the pipeline to effectively replace them. He raised the issue of the rising proportion of the workforce that was “freelance” or “contingent” and asked whether companies and communities were prepared for the changes this trend would bring. Mr. Lautman praised Chester County for being proactive in its efforts to better understand current workforce dynamics, but cautioned that the pace of change could still overwhelm even communities as properly focused as Chester County.
These remarks helped frame the discussion at three work sessions during the full day summit. The work sessions ultimately led to a set of action items that will form the basis of some new approaches to talent attraction and workforce development in Chester County. Continuing to ask the right questions in efforts like the workforce summit will give Chester County its best chance at continued prosperity for its residents and businesses.
