After a recent article titled “Catawba County faces demographic shift” published on Jan. 30, HDR reporter Michael Praats accurately quoted me as saying, “Currently in the county, over 3,000 jobs need to be filled. With a maximum of 1,700 graduating seniors annually to pool from and only just over half remaining in this community for education and work, and an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent and population projections showing decline it is clear that in order to meet the demand for jobs both now and in the future, we must expedite our population growth, specifically the working-age demographic.”
An engaged citizen contacted me directly to request that I provide the public with more detail regarding the “3,000 jobs,” in sum requesting, “Which occupations/industry sectors make up the demand for these said job vacancies and how would one find them?”