FEB, 27, 2018: On February 27th, our club learned fascinating details about the Charleston Metro Areas Workforce Story, thanks to Jacki Reneger and Robin Willis with the Charleston Area Chamber of Commerce. We learned that our current workforce has three major strengths: Strong growth, with 34 people moving to the area every day; Hidden talent niches, particularly the Military, underemployed, and Unemployed; and Workforce Training/Alignment, provided by Ready SC, Higher Education, Career Academies, and Apprentice-
ships. Charleston Metro’s current labor pool is highly diversified. There are 380,000 in the Charleston Labor Pool, with 14,000 of those being unemployed.
The Charleston Labor Pool is growing 4 times faster than the rest of the U.S. The Charleston Labor Force is overall educated and young, with 65% having at least some college, 25% being age 19 and younger, and 50% being ages 20-54. Interestingly enough, our unemployed also are overall educated and young, with 86% having a High School Diploma, 50% some college or greater, and 83% being ages 18-55. In fact, Charleston is the number one Mid-sized town for Millennials ages 25-34.
— Lisa Van Bergen, Keyway Committee