Sample pages of the Area Development Q4 2021 issue highlighting the Lehigh Valley. (image courtesy Area Development)

The Lehigh Valley’s life sciences sector and talent attraction and retention efforts were on display in one of the nation’s leading executive magazines covering corporate site selection and relocation.

The Q4 issue of Area Development published this month included an article describing the ongoing efforts in the Lehigh Valley to identify regional talent gaps and implement strategies that direct people to high-demand careers.

“Lehigh Valley, Pa., is making advancements in workforce and talent-supply needs through an innovative coalition of business education, and community leaders that is helping employers attract and retain the talent they need,” Area Development reads.

Additionally, the magazine includes advertisements provided by the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC) highlighting the region’s life sciences sector, including such regional companies as B. Braun Medical, Olympus Corporation of the Americas, and OraSure Technologies.

“They’re here because the Lehigh Valley is bursting with talent from 11 colleges and universities, with several world-famous research universities nearby,” the ad reads. “Just 60 minutes from Philadelphia and 90 minutes from NYC, we’re in the heart of the Northeast’s life sciences supercluster.”

The Q4 issue of Area Development, and an accompanying supplement dedicated specifically to workforce-related issues, can be viewed online here.

Among the topics featured in the article are the efforts of the LVEDC Education and Talent Supply Council, a Lehigh Valley coalition that brings together leaders from business, education, and community organizations, including the Workforce Board Lehigh Valley.

This council works to identify talent market gaps, and implement strategies that direct people to high-demand career pathways in the Lehigh Valley and make sure they are prepared to succeed in those jobs.

“Employers need the right talent,” the Area Development article reads. “This has become the primary focus of smart economic development. The Lehigh Valley, a two-county region in eastern Pennsylvania, understood the shift toward attracting and retaining talent early on, and took action.”

The article notes of the Council’s accomplishments in the six years since its formation.

They include an annual program to help employers start or expand internship programs, publication of career pathway resource guides directing secondary school students toward high-demand jobs, and a regional branding campaign to attract top talent: Made Possible in Lehigh Valley.”

For more information about Made Possible in Lehigh Valley, visit the initiative’s website.

The life sciences advertisement was designed by Lehigh Mining & Navigation, which is assisting LVEDC with recruitment marketing that supports the target sectors identified in the organization’s newly-adopted strategic plan.

Area Development is published quarterly and has 44,000 mailed copies. It also has a very active custom publishing group that has produced many award-winning magazines, inserts, and brochures on behalf of its clients.