New American Workforce Summit gathers employers to teach about international jobholders
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Area employers are getting a chance to learn about a growing source of employees in south central Kentucky.
UnDesked, an international, multilingual software company headquartered here in Bowling Green, partnered with the South Central Workforce Development Board to bring employers and service agencies together to learn more about the immigrant community here.
The New American Workforce Summit was held Tuesday at Western Kentucky University’s Innovation Campus. A hundred participants from three dozen employers attended.
Jeremy Jacobs, CEO of UnDesked, says, “Already, 97% of net new job growth is with new Americans. So if you’re filling positions, you’re going to have to adapt to that. And we’re hoping today that these employers leave with the knowledge they need to be able to be ready for that now as well as in the future.”
Brian Becker, VP of Operations & Programs for the South Central Workforce Development Board, says, “This new American population has grown tremendously in the last several decades. We have a lot of them that have been calling Bowling Green and south central Kentucky home for a long time. And they’re here. They’re ready to work, able to work. We have a lot of agencies that serve and provide job seeker services, career guidance to them.”
Haley Goodaker, HR manager for Fruehauf, Inc., says, “You’ll find that these people are dependable, they’re eager to work, and they have a thrive and motivation that most people don’t.”
The summit featured presentations on workforce pressures, languages, service providers, new American employees and their challenges.
Jacobs called south central Kentucky one of the most immigrant-friendly areas of the south east, with somewhere between 15,000 and 17,000 workers with limited English proficiency.
