FOLEY — On Tuesday, Aug. 23, Josh Duplantis, Ph.D., dean of workforce development, Coastal Alabama Community College, spoke about workforce trends both nationally and locally during the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce's Leadership Series.
Here are four key take-aways from the presentation.

1) Workforce shortage is not just a local issue, but there are unique local challenges
"Believe it or not, Foley is not the only place with a workforce shortage; it's everywhere," Duplantis told audience members.

However, there are challenges unique to Baldwin County.
"The population of Baldwin County is booming, being led by South Baldwin County," Duplantis said. "The population of 2021 grew about 15% over the last 5 years, and it's projected to grow another 10%. So that's 25% growth in 10 years. That's pretty significant."
Of that population, 31,606 of those people are 55 years or older, nearing retirement age. Compared to other areas of similar sizes, the number of those reaching retirement age is approximately 21,717, according to data presented by Duplantis. That data also shows our area has 11,289 millennials compared to the national average of 15,037 for an area of this size.
"It's a little bit concerning to tell you the truth, so obviously retirement risk is very high in our area," Duplantis said. "That's not good when you have more people exiting the workforce than entering it."

2) COVID accelerated an already present trend
When the COVID pandemic came along, many people found themselves without jobs. Now that businesses have reopened not everyone has returned to work, according to national numbers. While labor participation rates dropped with COVID, there was already a downward trend, Duplantis said.
"COVID has put fuel to the fire, but the fire was already burning," he said. "Labor participation rates peaked in about 1998, 1999, and there's been a downward trend ever since. And we expect that trend to continue, it has now for 30 years. That's a scary thing."
Many factors have been contributing to the trend, including a mass exodus of the Boomer generation from the workforce and the average age that couples start a family moving well into the 30s as opposed to the early 20s, Duplantis said.
"When you get married and have kids, what do you have to do more of? Work," he said. "So as that gets later and later in life that affects the workforce."

3) There are four major barriers to the workforce
"Substance abuse, skills, childcare and transportation, those are the biggest barriers to going to work all throughout the country, including here," Duplantis said.
According to Duplantis, if the opioid crisis were erased, almost 70,000 people could be put back into the workforce in Alabama.
For childcare, he said the entire nation has seen an uptick of parents not returning to work due to the cost of childcare being more than they bring home from their job. Alternatively, many childcare facilities are either at max capacity or unable to register more children due to a lack of staffing.

4) Businesses must adjust to the "new normal" to thrive
"The people that you're looking to hire have choices," said Duplantis. "We've recently seen what I call The Great Reshuffling. People aren't quitting and sitting on the couch, they're going to get another job."
Duplantis said businesses are either going to consume talent or co-create talent. To co-create talent, he said businesses must:
• Engage employees from day one

• Be transparent about jobs and benefits
• Be active in recruiting
• Embrace new business models, including PT/FT options, hybrid work models and flexibility
• Build from the bottom up
• Double down on culture
• Promote opportunity
• Show employees how they can make an impact
"Every week, I hear people say, 'I'm going to participate in that when things get back to normal. Things aren't going to get back to normal to what it was, and it's only going to continue to get more of a challenge," Duplantis said. "And I tell you that and say let's work together as a community to prepare."
For more information on Coastal Alabama Community College, visit www.coastalalabama.edu.
Visit www.southbaldwinchamber.com to view upcoming Chamber events.