The South Western Kentucky Economic Development Council was presented a regional economy overview that shed light on the past and forecasted the economic future of the region.
Completed by labor market analytics agency Lightcast through the Tennessee Valley Authority, the overview highlights Christian, Todd and Trigg Counties. Council Director, Carter Hendricks says Lightcast studied data from the past five years for each county in order to forecast their labor markets for the next five years until 2028.
Hendricks shared the report with the council which largely focused on the possible growth the region may have.
While looking toward the future the data also examined the impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on the regional economy and workforce.
For the region the report predicts a nearly 2,000 net job increase over the next five years.
After discussing the report, Hendricks provided a progress update on the Council’s personal economic goals.
By 2025 the Council hopes to have 5,000 new jobs in the region and $1 billion in market capital investments.
Along with discussing job numbers and market capital, the Council highlighted nine industry expansions and six new industry announcements that have happened in the region.