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.)

The LVEDC talent supply study currently underway, with a goal to increase knowledge about talent supply and demand in the Lehigh Valley among employers, educators, and regional workforce and economic development providers.

Along those lines, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce has previously published data about the availability of “good jobs” that do not require a bachelor’s degree. “Good jobs” are defined as those that pay an average of $55,000 per year, and a minimum of $35,000 annually.

That study found that, with the decline in traditional blue-collar industries, there has been a shift toward skilled-services industries with higher concentrations of workers who have postsecondary education and training.

While good jobs for high school graduates has decreased by 1 million, the increase in good jobs for Associate degree holders (3.2 million) has more than offset them:

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