It was recently been reported that the unemployment rate in Chesterfield County is currently reported in September to be 2.8%, down from 4.0% in July. Sounds great. But it is not the true story.
According to the S.C. Department of Employment and & Workforce, the number of unemployed citizens in July was 887. The job openings in July were 403. In August, the unemployed number dropped to 611 citizens, but the number of job openings remained at 403. The question now is, what happened to those 276 people?
There are two possible scenarios, the first being that they found jobs in areas other than Chesterfield County. The second is they have given up looking for jobs. This begs the question, “Why would they give up looking for a job”? Simple, the open jobs in Chesterfield County have skill requirements that they do not have.
The top 20 Occupational Openings in Chesterfield County require specialized training. The skills range from managerial to frontline supervisors to technicians and healthcare specialists.
Many of these skill sets could be obtained at Northeastern Technical College, but only if the current leadership at the school focused on classes that would meet these employers’ needs and not on liberal arts programs that give students college-level knowledge but no real-world employable skills.
Now is the time to demand that the leadership of NETC either comply with the mission it was created for or step aside for others to refocus the curriculum to meet the needs of Chesterfield County.