Originally published by The Augusta Chronicle.
Georgia just set records for the number of people in its labor force. That’s good news. But employers are still struggling to find skilled workers, and thousands of Georgians aren’t landing job offers despite the need for workers and the fact that the state has 275,000 open jobs. For Georgia’s next governor, closing that gap will be one of the biggest reform opportunities in the coming year.
Both major gubernatorial candidates, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Rick Jackson, have said they want Georgians to have better jobs and greater economic opportunity.
At recent events in Atlanta, Jackson and Lance Bottoms outlined their proposals for growing Georgia’s businesses and economy. Jackson highlighted a new policy platform to strengthen local economies and create jobs. Lance Bottoms met with business owners and noted what she would do to support them if elected in November.
Both are right to focus on economic opportunity. But the next governor-elect needs to think beyond simply creating jobs and supporting businesses. Georgia’s next leader should confront a structural problem that has received far less attention: Georgia’s workforce and public assistance programs aren’t designed to work together.
Millions of Georgians rely on public assistance programs, including food stamps, housing assistance, and Medicaid. These are struggling individuals who need better economic opportunities. Yet Georgia’s safety net and its workforce development programs operate in separate lanes, run by different agencies, with different application processes. A struggling single mother can turn to SNAP for food stamps, Section 8 for housing support, and Medicaid for healthcare—and never be connected to job training or a path to a better-paying job.
Meanwhile, a growing workforce shortage is worrying some companies. Employers are struggling to find welders, technicians, healthcare workers, and other skilled trades.
Both problems point to the same failure: Georgia has never built a bridge between the two systems. The state doesn’t merely need more workforce programs; it needs its existing workforce and public assistance systems to function as a coherent pathway toward employment.
Georgia’s next governor should make integration of workforce programs a first-year priority, beginning with assembling a task force to assess and coordinate programs.
A Georgian seeking assistance should encounter one coordinated pathway that assesses what help the family needs, identifies barriers to employment, connects the person with relevant training and employers, and provides continuing support as he or she moves into work.
For years, Georgia’s economic-development strategy has focused on bringing jobs here. That strategy has produced remarkable results. Whoever wins the governorship in November will face the next economic challenge: making sure those jobs reach more Georgians.
That means treating workforce development and the safety net as parts of the same mission: helping people move from instability to work, from work to better jobs, and from dependence to greater independence.
Georgia has built an economy employers want to join. The next governor should build a workforce system that gives every Georgian a better chance to join it, too. A strong workforce isn’t just about the availability of jobs, it’s about reconnecting work-capable adults who are on the economic sidelines.
Buzz Brockway is the Vice President of Public Policy at the Georgia Center for Opportunity.