Economy Matters

Civic leaders in Mobile, Alabama, are focused on workforce development as they prepare for a large increase of jobs in sectors related to shipbuilding, airplane construction, and the logistics industry and anchored by the expanding state-owned seaport.

Mobile's effort to increase its number of skilled workers was the main message local leaders said they wanted to impress upon Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic and a group of Bank staff during their two-day listening tour in November.

"We are aware of the workforce challenges we face, and we are equally determined to meet the challenge and believe we have the programs in place to meet the challenge," Bradley Byrne, president and chief executive officer of the Mobile Chamber, said after the visit.

The trip was Bostic's first to Mobile since he became Atlanta Fed president in June 2017. Tours like this one give him and other Bank staff a chance to learn about the economic drivers and challenges around the Sixth District and to share the Bank's perspective on issues of concern to the area.

"It's a two-way experience," Bostic said during a discussion at the Mobile Chamber. "Part of it is so we learn what regular people are engaging with and struggling with, or where they're excited, and they can hear from us and take some of the mystery out of what we do."

Two companies are slated to create a projected 2,800 jobs in Mobile within a few years. That compares to the 1,491 new positions created in 2022, according to Alabama governor Kay Ivey's office. Airbus, a European aircraft builder, will add 1,000 jobs at its manufacturing plant following an expansion that will make it the world's fourth-largest commercial aviation site. Austal, an Australian ship builder, is poised to provide about 1,800 more jobs to fulfill about $6 billion in government contracts.

The deepwater seaport's $366 million modernization program is expected to add to the port's warehouse and distribution capacity and enable the port to serve large container ships by 2025. In addition, the state legislature this year funded port-use tax credits to incentivize businesses to use the port and allocated $20 million to improve the efficiency of the terminal that handles high-quality coal exported for steel production.

Against this backdrop, Mobile competes for skilled workers in high demand throughout Alabama and across the nation. Alabama is one of 16 states with the most severe level of worker shortage, according to a US Chamber of Commerce analysis of data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Alabama has 38 workers available for every 100 open jobs, the report shows. In 2022, the state added more than 13,000 jobs through $10.1 billion in capital investments in new and expanded facilities, according to a statement from the governor's office. Mobile accounted for $1.4 billion of that investment, almost 14 percent.

In his remarks at the chamber, Bostic said the Atlanta Fed helps facilitate better workforce training programs in Alabama through partnerships with the governor's office and various workforce agencies. He said the collaboration fits into the Bank's efforts to ensure that people have the skills they need so they can have a decent wage and not be close to economic precariousness.

Mobile pursues a time-tested, two-pronged approach to workforce development–seeking to raise the skills of existing residents and attract newcomers who have the skills industry requires. A third effort involves worker mobility. The region will start an on-demand micro transit service for workers who have skills but no access to safe, reliable transportation. The pilot program is funded with $700,000 in federal and local money; the source of continued funding has not been determined.

While Mobile's approaches to workforce development are not unique, its comprehensive nature is new to the region. It coincides with the chamber's selection of Byrne in 2022 to serve as its president.

Byrne, a lawyer and Mobile native, brings a record of public service in which he oversaw workforce issues across several platforms. Before serving eight years as Mobile's representative in Congress, Byrne was a member of Alabama's board of education, an Alabama senator, head of the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education, and chancellor of the Alabama community college system, where he chaired the council that oversees Alabama's workforce development system.

"What I have said to people in Mobile is, 'Yes, workforce is a problem all over the country. But if we use that for a crutch, we'll miss our opportunity,'" Byrne said. "Those who figure it out will thrive, and those who don't won't thrive."

Mobile's effort to thrive starts with increasing the skills and knowledge of its residents, especially high school students and young adults. Examples include a program started this school year to familiarize high school students with logistics jobs at the port and a dual-enrollment program with a community college that prepares them for highly skilled jobs in processing technologies.

"Workforce is a problem all over the country. But if we use that for a crutch, we'll miss our opportunity. Those who figure it out will thrive and those who don't won't thrive."
—Bradley Byrne, Mobile Chamber president and CEO

"The lowest hanging fruit is the people already here," Byrne said. "We have 3,000 high school grads every year who don't get postsecondary education or training. If we could get them the education and skills necessary, we'd have 3,000 new employees coming into the workforce every year. And that doesn't count the adults we are trying to pull into the workforce with a network of programs to take advantage of the jobs."

The broad scope of these programs is overseen by the chamber's Workforce Alliance, which adopted an action plan in 2022 that Byrne said then is the "first time to my knowledge that a community has had this level of involvement and specificity in their approach to workforce."

The 10-point action plan begins with three items:

• Define and quantify job skills and number of workers needed in each category, and keep the data current
• Expand the workforce by retaining local individuals including youngsters who might want to leave Mobile for jobs, and by bringing in adults not in the workforce, including those with criminal histories
• Attract workers from outside the region, such as young entrepreneurs and military people leaving service and in search of new opportunities.

Byrne concedes that the third item is a nuanced challenge. "We've been trying to attract tourists for a long time, but it's different when you're trying to get people to move here permanently," Byrne said.

The chamber has hired a marketing firm to encourage people who may be willing to relocate for a job to take a look at the chamber's website, moretomobileal.com, and review highlights of the region's offerings, including an affordable cost of living.

Several aspects of the plan of action comport with remarks Bostic made at the chamber event. While not specifically addressing the chamber's plan of action, Bostic did cite general aspects included in Mobile's version.

"We have really encouraged communities to try to make sure that there's a conversation about what jobs are needed and what jobs are going to be needed," Bostic said. "Make sure there's coordination, collaboration with education organizations like community colleges so that they actually have the training programs to give people the skills to get those jobs. Then work with community groups to the mayor's office, to make sure that everyone in every neighborhood knows these things are out there."

David Pendered

Staff writer for Economy Matters