In four to five years it is estimated that this region will experience a large shortage of skilled workers needed to build, operate and service chemical facilities, so a primary focus of the LCMI will be to address this workforce gap. The workforce plan focuses on equity and aims to provide training to lower-skilled and lower-income workers through projects like the Incumbent Worker Training Program. Plans are to strategically align new investments in higher education with workforce needs and emerging growth sectors in the state economy.
The Louisiana Department of Education is working with high schools in the planned community to implement programs to provide high school credit for training relevant to high-need areas in chemical manufacturing. Expanding the capacity of existing training facilities will significantly benefit the chemical manufacturing community. These improvements are expected to result in the creation of new jobs, the retention of jobs that otherwise may have been eliminated, and an increase in wages for trained workers.
Workforce Chair: Suzie Schowen