LVEDC Director of Talent Supply Karianne Gelinas

Each week, Karianne Gelinas, Director of Talent Supply with the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation (LVEDC), will provide an update and additional information about its ongoing initiative to identify talent supply and demand issues in the region and create a strategy that results in a broader, ongoing understanding of the Lehigh Valley workforce. (See past updates.)

In the Lehigh Valley, a common theme heard from employers is the need for individuals with 21st century technology skills.

Across industries, employees are expected to have at least some digital literacy skills in order to perform their job duties. These skills may include basic computer literacy and fluency using digital devices through software development and cybersecurity skills.

Some ways to ensure employees have these necessary skills is through purposefully integrating them into the K-12 educational system, growing their depth in our Career and Technical Centers, and ensuring adults looking for retraining opportunities have access to them.

“But the skills gap is much bigger than the Bureau’s 1.4 million estimate,” Victoria Espinel wrote in recent opinion article in The Hill. “We don’t just need computer science graduates to fill computing jobs; we need people with technical abilities to fill jobs in almost every industry.”

Read the full article from The Hill here.

Click here to read more about LVEDC’s ongoing talent supply initiative. Click here to see previous talent supply initiative updates.