Collin Leadership Policy Summit 2022: Workforce Opportunities and the Labor Market

The population is growing rapidly in the Dallas-Fort Worth region and in Collin County. According to the Collin County government website, there is an estimated 80 people moving to Collin County each day, where 13 corporate regional headquarters are located. Collin College plays a key role in helping students and the region increase their employability before entering the workforce. The inaugural Collin College Policy Summit brought together a panel of leaders to speak on a variety of topics affecting our region and state including workforce opportunities and the labor market in North Texas.

State Representative Jeff Leach stated that the Texas population of 29 million is expected to double in size over the next 40 to 50 years according to current projections.

Those numbers can present challenges to our infrastructure in education and healthcare systems, but it is important that we make sure that we are able to educate those folks about all the different jobs and get them trained to meet the needs of not only today but the need of tomorrows economy, Leach said.

Leach stated that to accomplish those goals is to collaboratively work with policy makers and industry leaders on preparing the workforce of tomorrow, growing the talent, and getting them into those jobs as quickly as possible.

CORE Construction President Gary Frazier and Encore Wire Vice President Troy Skidmore said one of the biggest challenges the construction and manufacturing industries face is attracting the younger generation and getting them interested in the business.

Brent Franks, president of North Texas Automobile Dealers Association, said the automotive industry does not have an issue finding people interested in the field. Instead, their issue is finding qualified candidates.

Before, the older generation were taught soft skills at home and received workforce training at school, and now a lot of that has been put on educators so we have to start rethinking how we approach people looking for not just a job but a career path in any of our industries, Franks said.

The panelists discussed how the perception of blue-collar workers has changed in their industries now that technology has advanced. The panelists also credited Collin College as a being ahead of the curve by building state-of-the-art facilities such as the Technical Campus and partnering with industry leaders to ensure students are receiving the most updated training.

Im so glad we finally have the Technical Campus in our area that is focused on some of the things for our type of industries as a solution to the challenges we face, Skidmore said.

The panelists discussed various solutions to partner with educational institutions starting at the high school level for the younger generation to gain more interest into their industries.

To view the video of this panel discussion, click here. For more information about the inaugural summit, visit www.collin.edu/policysummit/.