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 or additional information from 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.)

Growing economies, like the Lehigh Valley, often require more people to fuel their workplaces. This makes population change an important component to talent supply.

Of the 67 counties in the state of Pennsylvania, only 18 of them are growing; two of those are Lehigh and Northampton counties.

These two counties that comprise the Lehigh Valley saw a combined population increase of 22,530 people from 2010 to 2017 with Lehigh County boasting the strongest growth due primarily to international migration and secondly to the birth rate.

The economy and population of the Lehigh Valley are growing together as new businesses and people come here or start here. We would love to see even more population growth, because we are a job center now for a broader region.

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