By Shelia Watson

A report just released by the Southern Growth Policies Board, in conjunction with the S.C. Technical College System and New Carolina-South Carolina’s Council on Competitiveness, outlines findings and recommendations that ties work force development to economic clusters.

“Developing South Carolina’s Workforce: A Roadmap for the Future” compiles information from a statewide policy dialogue that kicked off in January in Columbia and included six follow-up panel discussions at technical colleges around the state, each focused on a different economic cluster. New Carolina defines an economic cluster as a geographic concentration of interconnected companies and institutions in a particular field.

Participating colleges included York Technical College for advanced manufacturing, Trident Technical College for transportation, Aiken Technical College for energy, Horry-Georgetown Technical College for tourism, Spartanburg Community College for health care and Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College for agribusiness.

The report summarizes themes such as the need to develop comprehensive statewide work force solutions, the need to fund innovative initiatives and involving the entire education cycle pre-K through college.

Specifics in the report included job outlooks and opportunities under way for the clusters. The overall job outlook for the state is strong, according to data from the S.C. Department of Commerce, which projects that South Carolina’s work force will grow 30% more than the national average, with health care the fastest growing sector and the greatest need in the field of nursing. Other data showed the need for improved infrastructure in order to accommodate the growing transportation and energy clusters.

The goal of Southern Growth, a non-partisan public policy think tank based in the Research Triangle Park, N.C., is to define practical recommendations to build work forces to support the economic initiatives of southern states. South Carolina was one of six southern states where Southern Growth convened discussions. Policy dialogues also were conducted in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri and Oklahoma, as well as 145 community forums in 13 states and online surveys.