Town hall focuses on Pinal’s future workforce
by Jake Kincaid | Casa Grande Dispatch
Town of Florence Manager Brent Billingsley highlights notable growth in Pinal County which leads the discussion to growing pains.
Pinal County is not going to suffer from a lack of employment opportunities in the future. The problem is that residents are not currently prepared to fill the needs of the future workforce.
That was the message of the Pinal County Town Hall, an assembly that began in 1988 with the aim of fostering education, networking and collaboration on key issues facing the community. This year, leaders in local government, business and education met and presented their take on how to develop Pinal County’s workforce for tomorrow’s opportunities.
Pinal County is growing. In 1975 there were about 80,000 residents and in 2020 that is predicted to reach 460,000. The county’s unemployment rate has been decreasing, from 13.2 percent in 2009 to below 5 percent last month, which was noted as surprisingly low. Presenters discussed numerous projects in the works that will continue to bring jobs.
