Wake Tech 'putting the hammer down' on workforce demands
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Governor Roy Cooper delivered his 2023 State of the State address Monday night and focused some of the speech on investments in our workforce
Cooper has said there's a goal of getting two million people into North Carolina's workforce by 2030.
He warned last month at a forum that the state's labor participation rate is still lower than it was before the pandemic.
"What keeps you up at night is with all the jobs created, making sure we have the workforce to fill them," Cooper said at the forum.
Wake Technical Community College is preparing students to immediately go from the classroom to the office.
Rachel Magee is enrolled in the biotech program. She's training with a specific company and planning to work here when she graduates in two months.
"It's honestly really exciting because it takes the guesswork out of searching," said Magee. "It's actually a little more hands than you would get at a four year, where you might just be doing some general training.""
There are about 50 different courses in the job training program.
These programs are helping companies staff up quickly, either one that already has a footprint in North Carolina or others that are expanding in our region.
"This area is kind of a centerpiece for tech opportunity," said Wake Tech President Scott Ralls.
Apple is building a billion-dollar engineering hub down the road from the school in RTP.
Ralls met with company executives Monday about workforce needs.
"We're putting the hammer down on the accelerator and that's where propel comes from and a lot of different things we're going around workforce development, and I just think it's further encouragement. Further enthusiasm, more focused," he said.
