Crafting Local Talent

Building Your Community's Workforce with the Workers You Already Have

Our labor force participation rate remains stubbornly low and fewer workers are in the pipeline. Is there anything communities can do?

In 2020, Lightcast sounded the alarm about a pending labor shortage with Demographic Drought. But while talent may not be as abundant as in past generations, it is there. The challenge for those in economic and workforce development is to bring out the talent already in their communities. Crafting Local Talent provides four tangible solutions to do just that and mitigate the labor shortage.

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Strategies to Craft Talent in Your Community

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Bring Missing and Hidden Workers into the Market

Missing workers—those that are out of the labor force but want a job—currently represent the largest untapped pool of talent in the US.

Increase the Role of Apprenticeships and On-the-Job Training

New apprenticeships have been expanding rapidly over the last 10 years. Employers themselves have created informal apprenticeship-type training programs that cover 208 occupations.

Build on the Existing Skills of Local Workers

Most talent growth is going to come from within, by building on and retaining the skills of existing local workers. The most efficient way to do this is skills-based career pathing.

Seize the Opportunity to Engage Young Workers in the Skilled Trades

The raw number of 16-19 year-olds in the labor force has recovered to above pre-pandemic levels and 20-24-year-olds have recovered to a 20-year high. With a growing number of young people getting a taste of a paycheck and learning valuable skills, now is a great time to show them varying career and education paths.

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Learn who the missing talent is and discover tangible solutions from real-world examples.