A House committee tasked with looking at “innovative ways to maximize global talent in the state” as a way to address workforce development — specifically as a result of the pandemic– will hold its first meeting Thursday at Georgia Piedmont Technical College. The House Study Committee is being chaired by Rep. Wes Cantrell (R-Woodstock) who sponsored legislation creating the committee.
The committee is expected to hear from a full slate of witnesses, including Darlene C. Lynch, Business & Immigration for Georgia (BIG) Partnership, and Daniela Perry, Global Talent Initiative, Georgia Chamber of Commerce on “The Need and the Opportunity.”
Santiago Marquez, of the Latin American Association, Paedia Mixon, of New American Pathways, and David Schaefer, of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, are also expected to speak to lawmakers as part of the hearings.
“Throughout my term in office, I have heard a lot of talk about workforce development, but I believe one piece is missing,’ said Cantrell, when presenting the legislation to his peers during the 2021 session of the Georgia General Assembly. “I think we need to look at foreign-born Georgians and try to determine what is hindering them from getting good jobs. Is it out-dated regulations, is it inappropriate barriers that need to be removed? Whatever the cause, we need to identify the barriers and find ways to resolve the issue.”
According to Cantrell, one in 10 Georgians is foreign-born, totaling more than one million, and one in seven Georgia workers is foreign-born. He says that 84 percent of foreign-born Georgians are of working age, and points out that foreign-born workers play a vital role in a number of industries across the state including agriculture, poultry processing, construction, forestry, manufacturing and hospitality, as well as driving growth in Georgia’s high-producing STEM (science, technology, engineering and math industries). Twenty-two percent of the workers in the STEM field are foreign-born, he added.
Two panels are scheduled as part of the hearing — including one on “Pursuit of the American Dream in Georgia” and another on “Small Business Growth & Entrepreneurship in Georgia’s Global Communities.” Also, Dr. Meghan McBride and Mary Baxter, Georgia Piedmont Technical College will speak on “Building the Global Talent Pipeline.”
According to the legislation creating the committee, the group will “make recommendations and not decisions.”
