How Pandemic Changed Workforce Development | The C-Level Strategy Series with Jon Arnold | Segment 2

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – In this multi-part C-Level Strategy Series, Jon Arnold, president of Investment Services at J. Arnold Wealth Management, talks with area business leaders about the issues businesses face every day.

In Segment 2 of the series, the panel discusses how the pandemic has changed the workforce development programs at their entities.

“Because of the onslaught of online classes, what used to be a program that companies were prepared to pay for, that’s just no longer part of the equations,” says Barb Ewing, CEO of the Youngstown Business Incubator.

“If you look at the plethora of online information out there today, if people want to be educated in a certain space, they can at least take a good run at it.”

Joining Ewing on the panel are Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber; Bob Mesaros, president and CEO of Commercial Metal Forming; and Jeff Leo Herrmann, CEO of the Youngstown Publishing Co.

According to Coviello, for many of members of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, the biggest hurdle right now is the supplemental unemployment benefits coming from the state and federal governments.

“Paying people not to work is causing a strain on employers,” says Coviello. “You almost have a situation where employers are competing against the government.”

Upcoming segments will cover more topics. You can view the discussion in its entirety here.

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