News
Louisville Region’s Labor Market: 2024 Highlights
The regional economy showed signs of softening in 2024. Higher interest rates set by the Federal Reserve achieved their intended purpose of slowing the economy to reduce inflation. The economy entered the current turbulent policy environment from an already weakened position. It has been especially difficult for people entering the labor market, particularly among young workers. Let’s review how the regional economy performed in 2024.
Community Conversations Support Refugee Employment
KentuckianaWorks held a series of three Refugee Employment Roundtables that took place over the last several months, shedding light on what worked when it came to employing refugee workers and what stood out as persistent challenges to their employment success.
The Spot: Young Adult Opportunity Center celebrates program graduates
The Spot: Young Adult Opportunity Center, a partnership between Goodwill Industries of Kentucky and KentuckianaWorks, held a graduation ceremony at the Goodwill West Louisville Opportunity Center to celebrate its most recent graduating class.
How much does it cost to just get by in your community?
Many workers in low-wage jobs do not earn enough to meet their basic needs in the community in which they live. Researchers at MIT developed the Living Wage Calculator using current data and covering modern-day expenses, to provide communities with an understanding of how much it costs a full-time worker to meet their basic needs. The living wage is the minimum threshold needed to maintain economic self-sufficiency without the use of public assistance programs and without facing severe housing or food insecurity.
What’s in a name? Defining the Kentuckiana region
The KentuckianaWorks’ Labor Market Intelligence office focuses its coverage area on the Kentuckiana region, a 13-county footprint that reflects the service regions of Southern Indiana Works and KentuckianaWorks, and is recognized by the Department of Labor as a regional planning unit. Due to recent changes in metropolitan area definitions, this will now entail a subtle shift away from the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), a unit defined by the federal Office of Management and Budget.