ELIZABETH — As growth in the size of Indiana’s labor force slows, colleges and employers are continuing to search for ways to attract and retain young talent and support student learners from all walks of life.
At Southern Indiana Works’ fifth-annual State of the Workforce Summit Tuesday, leaders from Southern Indiana business organizations and learning institutions discussed how to do just that. Hosted at Caesars Southern Indiana, the event featured three panels focused on the region’s labor market, education and skills development and the role of employers in fostering talent.
Panelists included top officials from Indiana University Southeast, Ivy Tech Community College and Prosser Career Education Center, along with business experts and leaders from local workforce readiness organizations.
Tony Waterson, president and CEO of Southern Indiana Works, presented awards to distinguished employers in the area. The afternoon’s first award, Employer of the Year, went to Baptist Health Floyd.
“We have grown over the last five years to provide more services and more opportunities,” said Baptist Health Floyd President Mike Schroyer. “Working with young adults is so rewarding, seeing how excited they are.”
Prosser Career Education Center received Partner of the Year for its role in connecting high school students to colleges and jobs. Director of College and Technical Education Programs Kyle Lanoue said Southern Indiana is fortunate to be establishing partnerships that help young people advance in their careers even before entering the workforce.
“We continue to grow,” he said. “I think it’s obvious the need is there, and we are pleased to be a partner. Unfortunately, this doesn’t exist all across the state.”
For his contributions to numerous community leadership roles, Darryl Voelker won the Board Member Service Award. Voelker, who recently retired, served as Executive Director of the Harrison County Economic Development Corp. since 2005 and previously led the Harrison County Chamber of Commerce. He was also president of the Indiana Economic Development Association and held many other positions on local economic boards and organizations.
“You can spend all this money training people if you don’t have companies that are going to use the training that you’re providing,” he said. “There is a great increase in the number of employers involved in the Southern Indiana workforce program.”
LOW HIRE, LOW FIRE ENVIRONMENT
The afternoon’s first presenter was Sarah Ehresman, Director of Labor Market Intelligence at KentuckianaWorks.
Ehresman gave a solo presentation on stage about the state of the area’s labor market.
She said there are large, successful employment centers on both sides of the river from Jefferson County to Floyd County and other parts of the southern region. According to a breakdown of the job market Ehresman presented, Jefferson County accounts for about 73% of regional jobs, while Kentuckiana has the other 27% — about 17% in Southern Indiana and 10% in Bullitt and Oldham Counties.
While Kentuckiana is known as a logistics and manufacturing giant, she said, health care and construction sectors dominate the area’s job growth. Encompassing more than 100,000 jobs alone, health care is the region’s largest employer, followed by manufacturing, retail trade, transportation and warehousing and food services.
Health care and construction are also projected to have the fastest job growth over the next decade.
“These are two key sectors where the concentration of employment is really critical to our economy,” Ehresman said.
In an overview of the current labor market, she said Kentuckiana is currently a low-hire, low-fire environment. This creates challenges for people who do not already have jobs, she said, as well as those in economically-vulnerable populations including young adults, disabled people, Black and Latino adults, adults with no college education and single mothers with young children.
After the labor force saw growth in 2024 exceeding pre-pandemic levels, regional job growth has been declining since 2025 due to an unavailability of employers seeking workers. Indiana’s unemployment rate is still relatively low by historical standards, Ehresman said, but contrary to popular belief, that’s not because of an influx of jobs.
“The unemployment rate staying down is not because people are finding work,” she said. “It’s because they’re giving up looking for work. They’re going from unemployed to not being in the labor force.”
She said the minimum ideal living wage in Floyd County is $21.54 for one adult with no kids, and $28.48 for a household of two adults and two kids. In Clark County, the minimum ideal wage is $21.86 for a single adult with no kids, and $29.22 for two adults and two kids.
As artificial intelligence enters tech, clerical, financial and legal fields, she said, wages will likely increase, but there will be fewer jobs available.
“It’s not enough to be good at AI; you have to be a human who’s good at AI,” she added. “The people that get into those jobs will have a higherquality, higher-paid job that requires higher skills and training.”
DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION
Southern Indiana Works Vice President of Research and Strategy Brittany Dougherty moderated a panel including Lanoue, Indiana University Southeast Chancellor Debbie Ford and Ivy Tech Sellersburg Chancellor Travis Haire.
The first question Dougherty asked panelists was how each are working in their respective roles to foster the talent development pipeline.
Answering first, Ford said IUS is among the top regional talent developers, having signed 35 agreements with industry partners to drive work-based learning experiences between colleges and employers. She said truly listening to students’ needs and innovating based on those is a key part of helping them succeed.
“We have to recognize that what our students want and what they are telling us is different from the way we experience education,” she said.
Haire emphasized the importance of collaboration, saying when a student comes to Ivy Tech, having experience from Prosser or other work-based learning programs allows for a seamless transition to four-year programs.
Lanoue said Prosser aims to work with students to help them earn credentials and employability skills.
“When you have a little success moving forward... it makes it so much more attainable when they step into the next seat,” he said. “Students find an excitement and a passion in the career path they chose, and that helps us retain them.”
Dougherty also asked panelists how they believe institutions can support nontraditional students, such as adult learners.
Haire said the average student age at Ivy Tech is 27 years old, but the college serves students from as young as 20 up to 50 or older. That diversity in age brings opportunities for help one another with not only how to use technology itself, but how to use it to further their education.
“Just like a family reunion, everybody brings something to the table,” he said. “In our focus areas, we see multigenerational students working together.”
Ford spoke about the importance of recognizing many adult students are balancing full-time jobs with their education and families, and IUS is working to help turn prior job experience into credits.
Lanoue said institutions like Prosser could form a coalition of partners along with Southern Indiana Works to help further adult education, which he called “powerful.”
STABILITY IN A COMPETITIVE MARKET
After a half-hour lunch break, Waterson moderated a panel consisting of Kristen Barry, a policy director at Southern Indiana Works, and Dr. Todd Hurst, Senior Vice President at the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Jesika Young, president and CEO of Cimtech, Inc., was also slated to participate but could not be in attendance due to an injury.
Waterson asked Barry and Hurst about what defines a “good job.”
Barry said Southern Indiana Works officially adopted its own definition of “good jobs” Tuesday, part of the board’s strategic plan from a year ago.
She said job quality — specifically high-demand jobs with livable wages —should be a crucial focus area for job-seekers. For her, “good jobs” fall into four main buckets: economic stability with fair wages, access to benefits and clear scheduling; planning for the future; employee engagement and support and community engagement opportunities.
Waterson pointed out a recent initiative by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce that created the Workforce First Employer Designation, highlighting organizations committed to employee growth and strong career pathways.
Hurst said employers should recognize the hiring process is a piece of a candidate’s time, and the Chamber of Commerce often provides resources for employers to strengthen their hiring.
“To be able to learn and dominate within that space as well is crucial,” he said.
For small businesses without much wiggle room in pay, Barry said, wages are only one piece of the puzzle. Helping candidates identify quality jobs gives them more tools to explore different areas of employment and make better up-front decisions, which in turn increases retention for their employers.
“Maybe you can offer a little more f lexibility or more support for employees to engage in the process of building a company,” she said. “We want to make sure that we aren’t counting out our small businesses.”
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