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Ballard County, KY Is A Certified Work Ready Community
A Kentucky Work Ready Community certification is a measure of a county’s workforce quality. It is an assurance to business and industry that the community is committed to providing the highly-skilled workforce required in today’s competitive global economy. Through this effort, Kentucky communities can assess their own workforce strengths and follow a process to become certified as Work Ready or Work Ready in Progress. The Kentucky Work Ready Community program has the ability to transform a community. It encourages counties to take a credible inventory of the current and future workforce, identify the gaps and carry out strategies to achieve a more knowledgeable, trained workforce. In order to be certified as a Work Ready Community, the Commonwealth of Kentucky has taken steps to actively measure key factors including the following:
- High School Graduation Rates
- Working Age Population Without A Diploma
- Internet Availability
- Kentucky Essential Skills Certificate/Career Readiness Certificates
- Apprenticeship Availability
- Workforce Supply vs Demand
- Community Commitment
West Kentucky Labor & Workforce Statistics
(December, 2022)
Total Civilian Labor Force
%
Ballard County Unemployment
Average Hourly Rate (All Occupations)
Employed
Projected New Jobs Over 5 Years
Average Weekly Pay (All Occupations)
Unemployed
%
Jobs Resulting From Growth
Average Annual Salary
Kentucky Local Workforce Area Highlights For Western Kentucky
A study by the Kentucky Center For Education & Workforce Statistics has provided the following outlook for the Western Kentucky labor force through the year 2024.
- Employment is projected to grow to 174,069 a gain of 9.02 percent.
- Total annual job openings are expected to be about 5,446.
- Growth in employment will create about 1,587 job openings annually.
- Approximately 3,859 annual job openings will result from separations from the labor force due to retirement or those who transfer to other jobs.
- Twenty-nine percent of job openings will result from growth; the remaining 71 percent will result from separations from the labor force.
- The greatest number of annual job openings will be Food Preparation and Serving Related Occupations (741) followed Sales and Related Occupations (617), Transportation and Material Moving Occupations (580).
- The two occupations with the largest projected number of annual job openings Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food (346) and Cashiers (224).
- The highest growth rates among occupational groups are likely to be Education, Training, and Library Occupations (19.22%) followed by Healthcare Support Occupations (19.11%) and Computer and Mathematical Occupations (18.37%).