We have conducted Employer Focus Group and collected employer survey data. This data also illustrates a “gap” in our greater Knox County area. The employers indicate that they simply can not locate the skilled/trained workers they need to met their needs – they often must recruit workers for outside of the area to meet their current workforce needs and expansion plans.

 

102,000 people live within a 30 mile radius of the heart of Knox County . And yet the post secondary education and training that is needed in this area is simply not present at the levels we need to sustain and grow our economy.  Within that same 30 mile radius there are approximately 18,000 working adults with “some” post secondary education, but no degree – and another 36,000 adults with no post secondary education or training.