Revisiting PARCA’s Annual Forum
Housing inventory continues to fall, and prices continue to rise. Pressures on the housing market ripple across the economy but may have the most significant impact on middle-income workers – those earning between 80% and 120% of the median income. As housing prices increase, middle-income workers often struggle to live where they work. The shortage […]
Success Plus Initiative – Halfway to Success
Halfway to 2025, Alabama is slightly behind pace to meet its goal of adding 500,000 new skilled workers to its workforce by 2025, according to a new study commissioned by Gov. Kay Ivey’s office. The results are better than might be expected, considering the circumstances of the past three years. However, sustained effort will be […]
Stop the Slide, Start the Climb: Concepts to Enable Alabama Students to Achieve Their Fullest Potential
In March, the nonprofit Business Education Alliance commissioned PARCA to provide research describing the unprecedented challenges and opportunities in education faced by the state in this moment. For more than a year, schools have coped with the Covid-19 pandemic: reshuffled learning environments, the unknowns of delivering education digitally, and the disruptive and unequal effects that […]
Newly released “Education Matters” report assesses the progress of public education in supporting Alabama’s workforce initiative
In 2020, Alabama is in the midst of one of the most significant workforce initiatives in the state’s history. Reports have highlighted the need for 500,000 additional highly skilled workers by 2025 who have earned a high-value, industry-recognized credential. The Business Education Alliance of Alabama (BEA) commissioned PARCA, with support from the A+ Education […]
Making the Workforce System Work for Alabama
Alabama has a record low unemployment rate, with employers hungry for employees. It is a moment of great opportunity to move more Alabamians into the workforce with the skills and education they’ll need to succeed in the 21st-century economy. “As we look to our future,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in her keynote address, “more than […]
Job Training and Workforce Development Ranks #8 Among Alabama Voter Priorities
In late 2017, the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) surveyed Alabama voters to determine their thoughts about the general direction of the state and the issues that most concern them. PARCA partnered with Samford University to survey policy professionals from across the state including academics, journalists, business and nonprofit leaders, and lobbyists. Their […]
State Workforce grew slightly in 2014; Still about 5,000 smaller than 2008
Alabama state government employs 4,923 fewer people than it did in 2008, according to the figures provided by the Alabama State Personnel Department. With the exception of 2013, the total number of state government employees in 2014 was the lowest it’s been since at least 1996, according to State Department of Personnel annual reports. [iframe […]