2026 Workforce Forecast & Future Skills

Central Texas is growing fast. But what does that mean for jobs, skills, and the future workforce?

In this episode of the FutureReady NextForce Podcast, leaders from Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area talk about why workforce forecasting matters now and how employers, workers, and communities can prepare for the future of work.

As industries evolve and the region continues to grow, planning ahead is no longer optional. Workforce forecasting helps communities anticipate workforce needs, align training with real jobs, and help people build skills that will remain valuable in a changing economy.

In this conversation, the team breaks down:

• What workforce forecasting actually means
• Why future skills matter more than ever
• The challenges employers are facing right now
• How workers can stay competitive in a changing job market
• How Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area supports employers and jobseekers across the region

You will also hear how the FutureReady NextForce Podcast will explore workforce issues this season through leadership conversations, real stories from across Central Texas, and insights from the people building the region’s workforce.

For more information about our services, please visit www.workforcesolutionsrca.com

Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

If you wait until the communities are built and then you decide to build the roads, it's very difficult to build the roads. And if we wait until those jobs are sitting there waiting to be filled to start training people, then it's very difficult to to complete that task because it just takes it takes time and and employers don't have time to wait. No. Are you ready? But are you future ready? Be a part of the force. Future ready. Of course, the future ready. Next Force Podcast, identifying barriers to career success. Next force, finding solutions to empower businesses. Next force, helping central Texans avoid child care distress. Next Force, the Future Ready Next Force Podcast. The Future Ready Next Force podcast is brought to you by Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area. Developing talent for employers by coaching Texans to employment. Welcome to the Future Ready Next Force podcast. We're excited to relaunch this show and really explain what it's going to be about this year, why it exists, and who it's for. So, this isn't just a sitdown conversation. We're creating a space to talk honestly about what's changing for employers, workers, and families across Central Texas, and what people can actually do about it. So, the exciting thing about this year, Diane, is that we're going to be doing multi- format storytelling in different ways to help tell our workforce story and commit it and connect it to the local community. We're very excited about being able to pull back the curtain and share the resources we have for our employers and our job seekers that are available for all Texans. So, get ready to hear a lot of different ways to tell our stories and help us share the purpose of workforce for all communities. Yeah. and really boiled down the main goal for this podcast is to help us be future ready which is why we're calling it next force so that we are ready for the future for our job seekers for our employers and for all of central Texas. This is a new year uh new workforce efforts going on and uh you know just want to spend a few minutes today talking about how do we communicate that to the community? How do we share our vision for what the workforce could look like um for the next five years? How do we how do we communicate that to the community? How do we share that with our stakeholders? How do we work with our educators and our employers to to really kind of get the vision that we see about what's coming uh to our area? Well, and I think what's really interesting about that, Paul, is that this isn't the workforce of the past. There's been so much growth and so many new and exciting things. um not only innovation in the community but um new industry coming in and more partnership with uh school districts and more partnership with higher education partners. And I think that's one of the key things that's going to be really important to focus on as we move forward is how do we build that collaboration and how do we continue to meet the needs of the business community as they look at our communities and our our towns in the rural capital area as a place to move to and how are we doing that to support our citizens in those communities to be able to have a place where they like to work, live, and grow. Yeah. Some of the interesting trends that we're seeing right now are that there's relatively obviously a a major growth in semiconductor industry in our counties. Also, manufacturing in general is is growing significantly, but we're seeing a bunch of data centers come in too, which presents new opportunities for new roles that we haven't really seen in this region before. So, just as an example of one of the things that we're doing is we're helping to come up with pathways into data center operator roles and and maintenance technician roles so that our workforce is prepared and that our employers have what they need uh to be able to be ready to do that good work. Uh we're also looking at things like significant water needs in our area, which means we have a a bunch of new initiatives around water reuse. We're looking at water operator roles. Uh there's a lot of new development that's happening in sort of energy and resources. Uh we're also looking at significant growth in health care. So that means trying to fill a lot of those entry level to mids skill level roles that are very important for our region like radiation technologists, MRI techs, imaging techs in general, surgical technicians, uh certified nursing assistants, certified medical assistants, you name it. We're gonna have a lot of needs uh this year and upcoming years to be able to meet the needs of our healthcare industry too. So Sarah, this is a lot coming into our area and it can sometimes feel disconnected and how to connect with workforce and what what we can do about that. So we're walking this road with you and providing and listening to what your challenges and concerns are and then building relationships to figure out how we can help you get where you want to be. And so we're on this journey with you through the entire process whether it's to improve your business or your your job your career. Um, we're here to help you and we have the tools available to make that happen. So, we're not so disjointed. We're making that pathway available for you. That's right. You know, it's interesting here that our our population from in 2024 was about 1.3 million people. We're projected to grow to another quarter million people by 2029, which is a lot, which will be bigger than uh the Travis County area. And when when it when it grows that fast, it creates demands on the workforce system very quickly. And the real question becomes, can opportunity keep up with demand? Because workforce is not just about existing jobs. It's about whether people can access them and succeed in them. That's right. I'm particularly proud of one initiative we have this year around the creation of a website that is actually going to help connect our job seekers to those training opportunities to get them into the jobs of the future. uh those entry level roles to midskll level roles that are going to be high demand and also high job quality for our region. Uh so we're going to be launching that this year and that's going to make it easy for our folks coming out of the K12 system, our job seekers who want to retool or reskill to get into some jobs that maybe they've never even heard of before with the fastest possible training pathway and potentially some financial support from their workforce board. You know, I think I think it's critical that we we look at what those needs are going to be now and for the next five years so that we can plan for the creation of skill upskilling opportunities for people so that they can obtain the skills they need in order to accept the be able to fill the jobs that our employers are going to have. We think they're going to have over the next 5 years. If you wait until the communities are built and then you decide to build the roads, it's very difficult to build the roads. And if we wait until those jobs are sitting there waiting to be filled to start training people, then it's very difficult to to complete that task because it just takes it takes time and and employers don't have time to wait. No. I mean, you're talking about the importance of forecasting, Paul, and that's so important for our employers as well because when they are having to be on the reactive and they don't have the job seekers that they need in the market, then that means that they're relying very heavily on our temp agency partners who do great work, but they are also much more expensive and costly to our employers. So, one way that we can really help our economy is by really helping to provide those employers with the workforce. And then, of course, it provides great opportunities for our job seekers when we forecast correctly about the needs of the workforce. That key to forecasting is also backing it back into the K12 system and educating our parents and our students about the different opportunities that are available. College is not the only pathway to have a productive career and successful career, but unfortunately, we don't always know that. So, we're taking great efforts to create marketing collateral around that to educate our families and our students about the different opportunities available that you don't have to go to college, but you can have these amazing careers with very low cost entry and get started working pretty quickly. You know, I think it's important as we as we face this growth that we look at all of the potential sources of of workforce talent and not not just what's coming out of K through 12 or not just what's coming out of higher ed, but but we made great inroads in connecting with um folks coming out of the military as they as they come back into our communities and how they can enter the workforce and use the skills that they obtained in the military. Um but we've also looked at at reintegration of offenders, people that have been engaged with the justice system. How do they come out and how do they get re re-engaged um in in the workforce and become some of those talent needs that that are become the talent that our employers need. So we have shared why workforce matters and how this podcast will help. We want to take some time and dive deeper into the future skills conversation. Skills are not just one thing. They're a mix of technical and personal skills and the ability to adapt as your job changes. We've heard about AI taking away a lot of jobs. It's also going to be creating a whole bunch of new jobs. We don't even know what those are looking like. But so these for forecasting is very important for us to listen to our partners on how that's going to be doing. So let's dive deeper into this conversation. Paul, what do you think that what are your thoughts on future skills? Well, I I think you know you have we have to continue to evolve our skills over over time. We have to take advantage of new technology as it becomes available. We have to continue to be lifelong learners um with with everything that we do. Um whether you're in a white color job or a blue color job, uh it it really it really doesn't matter. Things things change over time. I always say, you know, artificial intelligence will not take your job, but someone who uses artificial intelligence might take yours if you're not using AI. Y um so it's important to to take advantage of that new technology, learn things to help you be more more efficient, be more valuable to to your employer, to your to your own business if you're if you own your own business. Um but that that technology and the the use of those things as they come out will will enable you to be much more efficient and much more effective. Great point. You know, that makes me think of us this year. We've been adopting some usage of AI as a workforce board and um been having to really think about the best ways to do that and how to integrate that technology into our work and realizing how it can really be a boon to us and with our efficiency uh if used correctly. And then also to our job seekers who really have application fatigue, who have a hard time adapting their resumes for every single job in their cover letter and find that um our AI tools can be very helpful to them and being able to put in more of those applications quicker um and to represent themselves professionally. I think it also helps our employers because you can helps you write those job descriptions and really dive down and say, "Do we really need this bachelor's degree to do this job?" because that's one of the things we've gotten bachelor heavy on a lot of our employment or the job descriptions, but sometimes you don't really need that bachelor's degree. What is the actual skill set you need to do this job and let's break that down and AI can help with that tool, right? You know, I think one of our one of our one of our real challenges is helping the community at large, whether you're in education or you're a parent or you're a student in K through 12 or wherever you are in the system, is really understanding what jobs what those jobs of the future look like. U what kind of industries they're in. What do I want to be in that industry? I mean, if we're talking about advanced manufacturing, are we talking about pouring molten steel out of a big vat into a mold? Probably not. We're probably talking more about putting on a bunny suit and working in a clean room or doing a lot a lot of other things that that people might not necessarily associate manufacturing with. So, I think career awareness is very important. I know we've been doing a lot of work to help put resources out into the into the world to help people understand what those jobs look like, what the career paths look like within those industries, what skills are needed in order to to have an entry point into that particular industry. and then how your career can advance over time. What skills will you need to improve and upgrade over time and just where you could where you can go with your career, whether it's in advanced manufacturing or it's in healthcare or logistics or whatever whatever that might be. Um, I think our role is really to to paint that big picture and and put the the pathways out there for people to to see how they if they follow the path. This is where my career could take me and maybe I get halfway through my career along this path and decide I really don't want to be in that career anymore. I want to do something different and how do I transition the skills I have into a different industry that can help me, you know, trans transfer laterally rather than continue to move up up over time. I think we'd be remiss in not forgetting about our skill trades, the tried and true, you know, our plumbers, our electricians, and the other uh construction workers and things. We still desperately need those workers as well. Uh as uh we're growing here in central Texas, we're very blessed to be where we're located. A lot of companies are moving in here and expanding as well. So, they need those buildings built, they need houses built, you know, all the support systems that come along when you bring a big employer into the site. So those trade skills are very profitable in a career and they're easy to get into. It's an easy transition if you don't like your current career. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal this week about um degreed individuals who are having trouble finding jobs and they switched into a plumbing or electrician and are doing great and it's an easy and then you think about they have this background with their college a lot of times in a business or some other type of engineering degree and they're able to take that skill set into this new field and grow in that field and maybe even start their own companies. So I think we have to be very careful to know that those are still there and still needed and so there's all kinds of things open to people. It's just let us know what you're interested in. Yeah. Yeah. Campaigns are part of that, right? Marketing is important and we put heavy emphasis on internships as well. Being able to get real life experience or even just on on the job training access experiences by going on tours, doing job shadowing. There are so many ways that we can help give access to learners and job seekers uh to these new jobs and give them a picture of what it's like to be in that bunny suit or to consider biio manufacturing if they've never considered anything in the life sciences before. Uh there are so many exciting ways that we're trying to give access to that that learner or that job seeker so that they know what it's like to uh spend a day in the life uh in these new roles. It's also an opportunity for employers to meet future staff and get vet them out and see how that works and show and yeah networking and showcase what you do. A lot of times we don't know what goes behind that big building. We don't know what's going on there. So, but when you bring them in, they're like, "Oh, I could work here." So, you know, employers need to market themselves as well. So, I had an opportunity to go to a uh a chamber event in the Marble Falls area a couple of weeks ago, and I met with one of our county commissioners. Um, and he was t talking to me about some uh some success he had had um in getting some of his employees to go through um truck driving training. Uh we sponsored them to go through truck driving training. Uh it enabled his employees to be able to fill roles that he needed to have filled within his organization without having to go out and bring in new talent. He was able to use existing talent to uh to to meet the needs of what what they needed to do there at the county. That's great. We also have an example here in the Round Rock area of a manufactur semiconductor manufacturer who went after skills development funds uh through TWWC and is able to get training along with to help train them on some new equipment they're bringing in which will help them grow. They also awarded a grant from the governor's office in the semiconductor world. So, it's exciting to see how they're using our tools to help build their staff and they're upskilling those staff and then keeping and retaining them, which is more important. Uh, their retention rate is amazing because they're investing in their employers so they don't have to keep going out and finding new staff. Yeah. Yeah. Another one that comes to mind is just the future needs for growing communities, not necessarily with new technology. Uh, but in Bassrop as an example, we have a significant growth in the automotive industry and a desperate need for automotive technicians out there. And so one of the things that we were able to help convene was a conversation with a training partner and these employers around what the specific needs are and how we could meet those needs while providing earn and learn opportunities to job seekers meaning they can work in the job and learn at the same time which the employers love because they get to train in their own way in their own culture. uh but they also don't have to worry so much about the technical training because they have a technical skills training provider who's partnered with them and providing services out there in Bassrop partially virtually partially in person and it works perfectly for them because it was designed for them in partnership with industry and with the training provider and while we didn't design the training program we are a part of bringing that together and we're also going to be the sponsor for that do registered apprenticeship program so there's a role that each of us play in creating these future ready pathways. And Sarah, that brings a point because we talk apprentichip all day long. So, this is something we know about, but I don't think everyone knows what an apprenticeship is. Would you mind sharing? Sure. What's involved? Yeah. So, the design of an apprenticeship is that someone would be able to have employment and be able to grow in their technical skills at the same time without all of the training burden being on the employer. because we know that those high-skilled level employees that can do the training are in high demand in the role that they're in. So, they can't spend all of their time doing training. So, this brings in a training partner to help provide some of that training. And the job seeker starts off with a certain wage at the beginning of the apprenticeship and then as they gain certain competencies or skills or hit certain milestones, then their wage increases little by little until they get up to the standard worker starting wage. uh incentivizing them to continue to learn but also to stay and grow at the employer uh with the employer who's investing their time and money in them. You know, I think it's really uh it's really commendable how the state of Texas formed their public workforce system uh back in the I guess the mid 90s where they kind of revised the the private industry councils that those morphed into actual workforce boards. So in Texas, there are 28 workforce boards that cover the entire state. Um here for us, we are one of those 28 boards. We cover the nine county area around Travis County and we are our board staff. Uh we're directed by our board of directors and we have um some anywhere between 27 and up to 35 board members that are nominated by our chief elected officials. Um and then they're certified by the workforce commission to be our board members. and the the rules around who can be on the workforce board. Um when when it was set up, it was envisioned that the boards always have at least 51% of their board members be from private business. So we have currently we have right around 30 board members. So 16 of those board members are from private business and they cover a spectrum of um skilled trades both union and non-union u manufacturing u kind of advanced manufacturing and then um maybe some older technology manufacturing that may maybe not be quite as advanced um healthcare uh individuals from some couple of major hospital systems in our area um and and other um aspects of the healthcare industry as well. Um the the oil field is covered in that in in that spectrum. Um so we have a good a good mix of board members that have private real real world private business experience. They know what they're looking for in their workforce and they're able to give us that vision that they have um so that we can use the their their insight to help kind of drive what we what we do as far as workforce efforts go. Um the other part of our board is then comprised of individuals from education, from different state agencies, um from labor unions, from uh community- based organizations around the area. So we we have a very good mix of board members that are able to give us u direction and feedback and oversight on the work that we're doing to make sure that the the public funds that we're been uh we've been allocated are being used in a very responsible and effective way. Right now we have a subset of board members who are helping us to design trainings for other board members about how to best engage the business community with the resources that workforce solutions rural capital area has. uh which is just one small example of the many ways that our board of directors help to bring value to our business community and boost our economy. One thing I think is unique and I think it's one or two states that include child care in their workforce commission. I know we'll dive deeper that into that in a different podcast later on this season, but child care is instrumental on getting our employees into the workforce. So I I think TWWC and the state of Texas did a great idea of putting that in with workforce because we have to have that. They go hand in hand. Absolutely. So, we serve about 3,000 a little over 3,000 children every day are in subsidized child care. And what that means is at least 3,000 probably somewhere between 3,000 and 4,500 parents are able to be in the workforce that otherwise would not be able to be in the workforce because they couldn't afford the child care and then and and be at work at the same time. So, it's uh it's critical when you think about the number of people that are in our workforce. And I think in the state of Texas, we've got just over 15 million people in that workforce. A little over 30 million people in the state. But so over over half of the number of people in the state are actually in the workforce. Um our area corresponds to that pretty well. But um and then when you take those 3,000 people from our area, if they couldn't be in the workforce, that would significantly impact our ability to fill jobs in in our nine county area. Sarah, uh, can you explain to how the industry sector partnerships work and how, you know, some of these are our board members that are helping us on those areas and what does that look like? Yeah. So, I think one of the smartest models that we employ as a as a workforce board is the industry sector partnership model, which is a way for us to strategically convene industry partners together and put them at the table and then have our community partners around that table uh to listen. So that would be universities, training providers, the boards themselves, uh, community- based organizations, uh, you name it. Any organization that seeks to serve the employer or the job seeker that's getting into those jobs, they come to the industry sector partnership meeting to listen to what industry is bringing to the table as their deepest concerns and needs and then they're building responsive solutions outside of that meeting to be able to meet the needs of industry. And I'll give you an example of how this has been employed for us recently out in the Highland Lakes area, which is our uh Marble Falls area, Bernick County. We have been a part of helping to support a healthc care industry sector partnership so that industry out there health care representatives feel like they can put their uh their heads together and their needs together into one pile and that the community partners can be responsive to those needs to ensure that we're preparing the students in the K12 system and the job seekers who need more skills to be able to work in those fields. uh whether it be the hospitals or um care facilities out there, outpatient clinics, uh dentistry, we need to be able to meet the needs of all of the healthcare industry out there. And because that consortium is coming together and expressing those needs, we've been able to build some solutions specifically out of their concerns. I think I also want to you mentioned K12 system and we're spending a lot of time doing career exploration with our K12 and we also have events called bridging the gap where we're bringing employers in to meet with this career and technical education departments at the schools to hear directly from employers what they need these students to have the skill sets to do and then the employers are coming in and providing opportunities either speaking tours providing equipment different resources so the student can see what a real life of what that job looks like. uh our K12 system is our future workforce and so it's imperative to us to be able to give that opportunity for students to see the different ways that they can get employed but also for employers to see what is coming up from the K12 system because we have amazing young people when we get the privilege to go out and work with them every day at I stand in awe a lot of them we hear a lot of bad press but it's really not there because when you meet these young people their passion their skills what they want to do with their lives is incredible so just exposing these opportunities and having this opportunity for employer to actually see the students is really critical, I think, for success in building the talent pipeline. One section of the talent pipeline. Yeah. You know, one of our former workforce commissioners used to always say, talk about the secret sauce for Texas, and that was getting employers and educators and economic development to all get around the same table. Talk about what their needs are. Listen to the employers talk about what their skill needs are, what they see those needs being going into the future. have educators hear that message so they're able to craft skills training that that gives the the right skills to to folks to be able to meet those employers needs. And having economic development at the table, they better understand then here's what our workforce looks like. Here's what it could look like. And their job is to go attract industry and opportunity to come to the area that can utilize that workforce and and bring that workforce to bear to be an asset for that for that new enterprise that may be coming to our area. I think one thing we keep touching on and it's pretty obvious probably is uh it takes lots of partners. It's not just us doing something. We have a huge amount of partners that we work with across all industries, government, you name it because all of us working together is what's going to make this happen and be successful in central Texas and the nine county region is all coming into the same place and helping get the talent that we need to meet the needs of our employers. That's right. Yeah. I I think one thing we haven't mentioned that's really important is that workforce is significantly impacted by current events and by policy makers. And so, uh, you know, just this year, we learned how these changes in tariffs impact the workforce and how, uh, onouring manufacturing, bringing it back to the United States, impacts the initiatives that we have that are local as it relates to finding rare minerals and refining them. Um, bringing more manufacturing back. uh being able to have the parts that we need to make the products that we need to for our technological advancements for our um defense as well. So there are so many things that are happening just this year alone and we also play the role of um advocating for for what is best for workforce in the area but also learning uh from our partners who do that type of work too. So workforce is really at the intersection of so many different elements of our daily life. And I think one of the things that's really important about the workforce board is that we are sort of the one-stop shop for anyone who has a workforce need. So when you think about, you know, how am I going to solve this complex workforce problem that's impacted by tariffs and by the supply chain and by then and I don't know the right training provider, you should think of workforce solutions rural capital area as your go-to place so that you don't have to do all of that research, all of that networking. I have a friend who runs a business where he helps folks to take advantage of credit card points so they can get free honeymoons. And he's like, I know it's not that people can go out there and and do their own research about credit cards. I'm just going to save them about 15 hours of time because I've done all the work and I can tell them in 30 minutes the best path for them. And that's kind of what we do as a workforce board. Uh you don't have to do all of the hard work. We're going to make it easy for you. So throughout our nineount area, we have uh America Job Centers. We call them workforce centers here in Texas. Um, we've maintained a workforce center in each of our nine counties for a very long time. Um, and you'll find many different services within the walls of those workforce centers. Um, not that you have to physically go to one of those workforce centers to access all of those services. Most of them can be accessed virtually if that if transportation is a problem or or time is an issue. Um, so those those services are can be available virtually, but there are services there for employers for employers to post their jobs to get a look at what the current talent um pool looks like for the skills that they're trying to hire for. Um, they can utilize resources like um an office to do interviews. If they don't have a physical site in an area, maybe they're maybe they're new to an area and they they don't have a place to interview, they can use our our resources there. um they can use our staff to help um kind of whittle down the talent pool that's available and bring bring the best and the brightest in to see to see those employers and hopefully make some good some good matches there. Then the other side of the coin where we have opportunities for job seekers. So when you walk in the door of a workforce center, the first thing you really see once you once you sign in and and get started is our resource room. And that resource room is comprised of um not just um not just computers, not just paper resources, but an array of both. Um so you can access the materials that you are comfortable with, whether it's on paper, whether it's on the computer. Um tools are available there, copy copy machines, fax machines in order to to send your resume out to things. But we have staff there that can help connect you to the available jobs in in the area. um kind of advise you based on your work history, your skill sets, where would you best fit into the local labor market and then how to how to really engage, how to get your information out there, put yourself in the best possible light and and meet up with employers that could provide the best opportunities for you. I think one thing I wanted to touch on which Sarah has been working really hard on is our um business consultants. They go out and talk to the employers directly. So if you explain what the resources are for that. Yeah. So, we have business liaison and recruiters and they are really the customer service rep for our employers. They're helping them to understand what resources are available to them through the workforce board or even through the funding that's available through the Texas Workforce Commission for businesses, but they're also just listening and they're making sure that they're understanding and getting a beat on what the concerns of industry are and employers are. and then they're going back to to the larger team and to the workforce board here and they're coming up with smart solutions. So we're happy to say that we have liaison that represent each of our nine counties and are building deep relationships with the chambers with the economic development corporations with the community members and most importantly the businesses and industries either through one-on-one relationships or through the industry sector partnerships that we talked about earlier. So, we talked a little bit earlier about how our workforce board is made up of of individuals from private business and how they use their business expertise to advise the board on how we how do we propel ourselves, how do we how do we utilize the resources we have to meet the needs of the employers through throughout the nine county area. Um, but we're not just advised by those board members that are actually on our board, but we we work with the communities at large to find employers throughout our nine county area um and get their feedback, get their opinion, get their needs for the talent that they're seeking in order to to fill their their workforce needs within their own business. Um but we also work closely with our chambers of commerce, with our economic development partners, um and other stakeholders within the community to really connect to the business community. Um great connection that we have here with our uh the Austin Regional Manufacturers Association. Um very it helps us connect uh more more deeply with the manufacturing community in a lot of ways. And then and we're engaged with our partners with the Capital Area Workforce Board and with Arma to really um to be connected and be part of that manufacturers association. Um so we're we're a team member for them. We're we're there to help support what they need. Um and but it's a great avenue for us to hear directly from those manufacturers and from others um you know maybe outside of our nine county area what those what those talent needs are and how how they seen those talent needs filled in other parts of the state other parts of the country. So we're able to get best practice kind of information from those um from those industry associations whether it's manufacturing or healthcare. Um you know connecting in with those groups that already exist to tap into best practices I think is is a really good uh a good tool for us and helps legitim legitimatize the u the work that we do. Um, so we're not relying just on our labor market data, which could be a little aged. Um, but we're getting real world information, real real time information back from our employers and our industry associations. Yeah, Paul brings up a good point. uh labor market data and h making that available to our businesses and our job seekers in the nine counties is one of our roles and responsibilities as a workforce board. But it's not enough to use labor market data when you do smart workforce development planning for the future. And so as an example, we we are part of the Central Texas Healthcare Partnership, which is another uh industry sector partnership that serves the 5count MSA. And one of the things that we hear from all of those industry partners are, you know, if you look at the labor market data, you're going to see that uh certified nursing assistants and nurses are examples of very high needs uh roles that we need to fill. However, while those are important roles for us to fill, where we need your expertise is actually not in those two categories where we have the highest demand. We need your expertise with our imaging conundrum. We cannot find MRI tech. we cannot find uh our um rad techs. We need solutions. We need you to help us build a stronger pipeline. And sure, the numbers might be smaller, but we're having to pay for travelers to come in from other countries and from other parts of the nation. And we're paying three, four times what we would be able to pay if we had folks who are local. And by the way, they those roles might even make more money than a nurse. So all of this is information that we receive from partners and we wouldn't have that just from looking at the labor market data. One other area that we're working with is with uh the skilled trades uh union and non-union as to help encourage people to move into those fields to build that pipeline out that starts not only in our K12 system and showing showcasing the different opportunities for the students but also as job seekers are maybe transitioning to different opportunities and things. These are great ways to get into a new career pretty quickly and have it all paid for you. You don't have to go put that money out front. Uh these skill trades are very important for the growth of Central Texas as more and more companies are moving in here. As I mentioned earlier, we got to have someone build the buildings and the homes and the hospitals and which also leads to those as hospitals as you were talking about all the growth and the different needs because as we're growing these all these industries, these support industries are growing throughout the region and we need workers and people to move into those skill sets to help meet the need of our employers and our communities at whole because we all want to have the nurses as Paul and I talk about as we're getting older. We want people who know nursing so they can take care of us as we speak for yourself. So, um, but you know, we want these things and it at the end of the day, it helps raise us all up. It helps the entire community, the economy here to grow and thrive and people want to be in this region. I believe we're in a really unique time. I've said this before and it there is so much happening right here and so many opportunities in this 9ounty region that we're here to help you find that opportunity and you will be successful here. You know, put in a little hard work, but you're going to get there and we're going to help you make you get there. And as a from an employer perspective, we'll help you find those employers. We're going to develop those training whether it's through a union training apprenticeship or some other type of training. We'll get you to that point and help your staff get there and then it becomes repetitive and then we can just you just keep building your your your own family and growing that that talent inside. So you should promote internally and then you bring the next level in. So this team here with our partners can make it happen for you. Just reach out. We've talked about a lot of things so far in today's podcast, but I think one of the things I'm really excited about about future podcasts is going to be sort of the um out in the field element of what we're going to be doing. you know, man on the street interviews and being able to really showcase the day in the life for a lot of these jobs because uh the concept of of workforce and workforce development can be very complex as I think we've demonstrated in this conversation. Uh but our goal is to make it very easy for job seekers to envision themselves in these new careers. And I think that's a lot of what we're going to be doing in this podcast in the upcoming months. So this relaunch is about being clear, visible, and useful to the region as a workforce board. The biggest thing I want out of this podcast series this year is for us to demystify a workforce, make it easier for everyone to understand and how to utilize the services that are available to you free of charge. You know, this is available from fally funded and state funded dollars. So we're here to serve you. So please reach out to us and let us help connect. And if there's something you're interested in learning about more about these podcasts, reach out to our team. We'll have a a link at the end of this podcast on how to reach out to us because we want to know what you want to know because if we don't know, we can't help you. But so please reach out to us to take care of that. I do though hope that you enjoyed our podcast and we're looking forward to more podcasts coming this way. But meanwhile, if you need support, please reach out and thank you for your time. The Future Ready Next Force podcast is brought to you by Workforce Solutions Rural Capital Area. Developing talent for employers by coaching Texans to employment. The future ready next force podcast.