News and Events
September 3, 2009
Catoosa County is named a Certified Work Ready Community
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue today announced seven new Certified Work Ready Communities, a designation showing the county has the skilled workforce businesses demand and the educational infrastructure to drive economic growth and prosperity.
"By becoming Work Ready these communities are positioning themselves for future growth," said Governor Perdue. "The communities are building the skilled workforce that employers rely on to succeed and grow."
To earn the Certified Work Ready Community designation, counties must demonstrate a commitment to improving public high school graduation rates through a measurable increase, and show a specified percentage of the available and current workforce have obtained Work Ready Certificates.
In Catoosa County, 860 people earned Work Ready Certificates, 25% above the county's goal. The county also increased our graduation rate from 70.9% to 76.2%
September 1, 2009
Ringgold High School earns Work Ready training grant
Ringgold High School was one of 56 high schools statewide to be awarded Georgia Work Ready training grants. This grant will provide three-year access to $5,000 work of skills-gap training software, which help students improve their Work Ready Certificate levels.
Ringgold High School will provide the Work Ready assessment to at least 50% percent of its senior class each year for three years and will incorporate the training tools in its curriculum to ensure all interested students have access to it.
Georgia's Work Ready program is based on a skills assessment and certification for job seekers and a job profiling system for businesses. By identifying both the needs of businesses and the available skills of Georgia's workforce, the state can more effectively ensure that it is providing the right talent for the right jobs.
CNBC Ranks Georgia's Workforce Tops in the Nation
State Remains One of 10 Best States for Business in Annual Rankings
Cable network CNBC ranked Georgia's workforce best in the nation, scoring the state highly in the categories of cost of living, and transportation and infrastructure.
According to the network, their workforce ranking was based on education levels of the workforce, numbers of available workers and relative success of each state's worker training programs in job placement.
Georgia ranked third nationally in cost of living and had the nation's third-best transportation and infrastructure network. The state's education ranking climbed five spots from last year. In addition, the state remained in the top 20 for cost of doing business, technology and innovation, business-friendliness and access to capital.