Birmingham skyline from Thomas Jefferson Hotel.
A new study released today outlines a series of choices and opportunities for the seven-county Birmingham metro to become more competitive in attracting and retaining both jobs and workers to the area.
The study, called "Building (it) Together," was conducted by Burning Glass Technologies, a Boston-based company offering job analytics software and research, and the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning. It was commissioned by the Bold Goals Coalition of Central Alabama, a group dedicated to regional cooperation in improving educational, health and job opportunities, according to its website.
The Coalition includes a number of nonprofits, businesses and governmental departments in the Birmingham region. The lead partners for this study include Alabama Possible, Birmingham Business Alliance, Central Six AlabamaWorks!, Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Innovate Birmingham, Jefferson State Community College, United Way of Central Alabama and UAB.
Major findings from the Building (it) Together study include that while Birmingham has recovered from the Great Recession with an employment growth rate of about 6 percent since 2010, its growth has been about half that of surrounding cities such as Nashville, Charlotte and Atlanta, and it still has not reached the pre-recession employment high of 535,000.
Birmingham's GDP (gross domestic product) grew 8 percent in that time, below not only the national average of 13 percent but also Atlanta (19 percent), Charlotte (22 percent) and Nashville (33 percent).
The study by Burning Glass also noted the loss of college graduates in the seven-county area, losing 43 percent of local college students and 53 percent of local doctoral students. That is one part of a misalignment that the study found between the skills workers possess and the employment opportunities available in Birmingham, with 78.5 percent of workers employed in low- or middle-skill professions. Management jobs, in particular, take longer to fill in Birmingham than the national average.
Through focus groups of businesses in several major industries, such as healthcare and finance, the study results also show concern from employers that graduates are not learning the right skills to fit the jobs they have available. This disparity was especially prominent in information technology (IT) roles. These factors contribute not only to loss of talent to other cities, but also to Birmingham residents being stuck in low-paying jobs because they don't have the right education or access to a way to learn the skills they need.
Entrepreneurship is also impacted by lack of developed talent pools to build a startup company.
“We really need to cultivate the talent to make sure that people are equipped with the skills and education they need in order to thrive,” said Alabama Possible Executive Director Kristina Scott. “We’re not going to build equity by being passive.”
The report points out "equity" issues of employment and advancement opportunities for minorities in Birmingham, as some regions of the metro area have far higher unemployment or underemployment and poverty rates. The report notes employers having "difficulty identifying processes to recruit women and candidates of color into roles that have historically been filled by older, white males."
These areas, the study says, need more assistance through nontraditional and adult-friendly workforce training programs to open up job opportunities in higher-skilled, higher-paid industries. High school graduation and college or career training participation rates also play a role. The study said across all degree areas, 63.7 percent of local bachelor degree recipients are white students, and they make up 75.6 percent of doctoral degree recipients.
While the participation rate is consistent between white and black individuals, unemployment in the black community is more than double the white unemployment rate, at nearly 12 percent.
Birmingham is expected to have 59,000 annual job openings and workforce growth of 8.9 percent through 2026.
The Building (it) Together study offered several recommendations for Birmingham's economic growth. These included investing in diversified industries — such as advanced manufacturing, biotechnology and IT — while being careful to avoid investing too heavily in fields heading toward increased automation. The study also recommended investment in enticing non-local companies to Birmingham, to infuse new revenue sources rather than the circulation of wealth solely in a local economy.
Burning Glass's findings also supported new resources for skills training, including options like IT boot camps or co-op and alternative training programs, as well as supporting high school graduation rates and career readiness. The study findings encouraged employers to reconsider the credentials and skill sets they require in hiring, as well.
Burning Glass's methodology included job report data, analysis of job board postings and a series of focus groups for about 150 local business leaders, research manager Ben Bradley said.
“I think there was a good amount of consensus coming from the various parts of the community” in the focus groups, Bradley said, including concerns about making sure new graduates have competitive skills while keeping older employees up to date on changing technologies and practices. He noted that growing technology use has led to "hybridization" of jobs where nearly all employees are expected to have some technological proficiency along with "soft skills" such as customer service.
The Bold Goals Coalition presented its major study findings at a press conference on Tuesday, June 5. The coalition intends to hold a series of community meetings over the summer to present their findings and gather feedback for a regional action plan. Some members of the coalition, including the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham (CFGB), see this as the start of a conversation for municipalities in the seven-county area to work together regionally to attract industry and address other issues.
“Economies have become more regional in nature,” CFGB President Chris Nanni said. “Communities that are more fragmented struggle with job growth, and that’s what our report shows."
Nanni said he's not looking for Birmingham to become a single municipality, but rather for the different cities and towns to agree on major goals and speak "with one voice" to accomplish those goals. It will take a lot of trust built between municipalities, as well as new systems to bring them together on core issues, from economic development to public transit or opioid abuse.
“You really can’t point to a region where you have a dying center city and thriving suburbs, or vice versa. … Their fates are all connected,” Nanni said. “What we’re really pushing is not an issue but a structure, a structure that is able to identify issues on an ongoing basis.”
Bradley said the question the region has to answer in order to take action on the Building (it) Together study results is, “How can Birmingham, in some ways, reinvent itself? ... [And] turn it into a future economy that continues to grow.”
"To remain relevant and to grow and to be prosperous, we have to change the way we act,” Nanni said.
Anyone interested in hosting a community meeting to discuss the Building (it) Together report can contact Shardé Oliver, Sharde.oliver@uwca.org, with the Bold Goals Workforce Action Network.
