The Nashville MSA leads the nation in advanced industry job growth, according to a new report released by the Brookings Institution.The Washington, D.C.-based research organization’s report examined job growth in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields from 2013 to 2015 and found that Nashville’s advanced industries employed just over 82,200 people at the end of 2015. Our region’s average annual job growth in the two-year period was 7.9 percent, eclipsing the national average of 2.5 percent.Our economy’s rapid growth is helping our region attract dozens of new residents every day. In the midst of this economic boom, we are competing both nationally and internationally to attract talented workers who will fill jobs in our core sectors, such as health care, advanced manufacturing and information technology. We know our region’s future economic growth and prosperity hinges on our ability to maintain a pipeline of skilled, educated employees.
Last summer, the Chamber published a comprehensive study of workforce trends in the joint Nashville and Clarksville MSAs through 2020. The study’s findings indicated that we need to increase our focus on workforce development in a way that leads to greater success for our workers and employers in this combined 17-county region. We’re addressing this through workforce strategies that include:
- Regional skills panels addressing the alignment of postsecondary education with employer needs
- Becoming a Lumina Community Partnership for Attainment recipient and working alongside the State of Tennessee through the Middle TN Reconnect initiative to connect adults with some college, but no degree, back into a postsecondary educational pathway
- Continually connecting, engaging and empowering our area’s young professionals to actively shape the future of this region
