HOWLAND — The results of a study done to examine the region’s workforce needs and barriers to employment confirmed what many already knew, and now it’s time to develop strategies to overcome those obstacles.

Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries and the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber collaborated earlier this year on a community needs assessment that targeted job seekers and business owners.

“We had two questions that we sought out to answer. The first was, where are there people that aren’t currently working that we can assist and get them into the workforce, where are they?” Shelley Murray, chief executive of Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries, said. “The second question was, what are the obstacles in the community and the barriers that they are facing that is keeping them from getting into the workforce? Two simple questions that really guided this process.”

Murray on Friday provided an overview and findings from the assessment at the regional chamber’s 2024 Public Policy Conference at The Grand Resort in Howland.

Said Guy Coviello, regional chamber president / CEO, “as the chamber and our partners work toward creating an environment in our region for sustainable economic success, it is critical that we understand the very real barriers that exist. It is our responsibility as a community to work to address these challenges and create meaningful opportunities for the Valley’s residents.”

THE REPORT

The assessment began with collecting demographic data and included information gathered from a community perception survey done July 15 to Aug. 19 as well as findings from focus groups. Some common themes were revealed.

Forty-five percent of survey respondents identified alcohol and drug use as the top community issue, followed by poverty, 42%; affordable housing / homelessness, 40%; transportation, 27%; and unemployment, 26%.

Transportation / public transportation was the No. 1 response to workforce development challenges, 42%, followed by life skills training, 35%; living wage / economic barriers, 35%; childcare, 33%; and affordable housing, 23%.

Focus groups — from a broad spectrum of stakeholders that included service providers, education / training providers, funders, businesses, job seekers and coalitions — drilled down further.

Nearly 94% reported transportation was the biggest workforce development challenge. Childcare was next, followed by mental health, substance abuse, housing, food insecurity, education and accessible training / skills.

The populations most impacted by the challenges were found to be justice impacted, minorities, youth ages 16 to 24, individuals in recovery, single parents, physical disability and intellectual disability.

The assessment revealed the two most in-demand job skills were soft skills and digital literacy. Other needed job skills were in health care training and logistics and supply chain.

“A lot of times, a phone, a cellphone is the only computer someone is operating with, so they are not working a mouse. Filling out a job application oftentimes can be very difficult on a cellphone, so digital literacy is something we need to pay attention to,” Murray said.

The soft skills identified were communication, adaptability, critical thinking, time management, financial literacy, customer service and teamwork / collaboration.

During her review, Murray recounted two stories she recently heard — one involved a person whose car broke down and another involved a person whose car ran out of gas. Neither had enough money to repair the vehicle or put fuel in the tank, so both just stopped going to work, she said.

“They are very simple, but to someone who is feeling very overwhelmed in day to day life, these can be a challenge that is really difficult for them to overcome, and so when we start thinking in those terms, we need to start thinking differently about how we are going to engage the workforce,” Murray said.

WHAT’S NEXT

Now with the data, next up — in collaboration with local businesses, government officials and community organizations — is three fold:

•  Identify workforce development programs and agency / organizational support programs in the community.

•   Identify opportunities to support workforce development programs and services to meet the needs of job seekers and businesses.

•   Create a plan to reduce the top barriers to joblessness.

To guide the future and execute on the assessments findings, Youngstown Area Goodwill Industries plans to hire a community solutions director to manage the next steps, from facilitating collaboration among stakeholders to coordinating committees to making sure the project meets its goals.

The funding for the position is grant from the Youngstown Foundation.

OTHER INTERESTING DATA

Murray in her 25-minute presentation unloaded a ton of powerful economic and demographic data for the region, including strengths, needs and challenges.

•   Strengths

The region has decreasing unemployment and average annual wages per worker have gone up just a bit more than 3% in the region over the previous four quarters, she said. Also, the labor market has gotten stronger in the past 10 years and the cost of living in the region is about 6% below the national average.

In the job market, job openings have gone up more than 1 percent over year end and the first quarter of 2024 and the majority of open job postings require zero to five years of experience, “so there jobs out there … that are available,” Murray said.

Also, the majority of job openings list a high school diploma or equivalent as a minimum education level and there are other opportunities to get people skilled through short-term certifications in areas that include first aid, basic life support, certified nursing assistant, licensed practical nurse and commercial truck driving.

Meanwhile, the fastest growing occupation in the next 10 years is health care support and social assistance. The strongest forecast by number of jobs is management of companies and enterprises, mining and quarrying, oil and gas extraction and information.

•   Challenges

For most job postings in the region now, the median hourly wage is $16.65 per hour, or $34,632 per year full-time.

“I want to put this in perspective from the federal poverty guidelines. A family of four with one working adult, the poverty level for that family is $31,200, not much less than what our median average hourly wage that is available now,” Murray said.

“That same family with two adults, one working and two children, a living wage … in order to do that for that same family, they would need to make $35.83 per hour, so you can see the disparity between what is available and what is needed for them to have that quality of life,” Murray said.

•   Needs

Here, the region has had a decreasing and aging population. Also, there is a higher amount of no additional education beyond a high school diploma; more people than the state and national averages; people make less money; more people receive food help than the state or national averages; and there are less people working here than the state and national average. The state and national average is 63% and the local average is 57%.

Go to goodwillyyoungstown.org/cna to read the full community needs assessment.