The job market in Northwest Indiana has fluctuated as the steel mills closed and the industrial landscape disappeared into the sunset over Lake Michigan.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development reported in an analysis of occupation data and workforce trends that 55% of Indiana’s jobs will require post-secondary education by 2018. Here is the situation at a glance:
- Between now and 2018, Indiana will need to fill 930,000 job vacancies
- Of these job vacancies, 506,000 will require post-secondary credentials
- Currently, 19.8% of Lake County residents earned a Bachelor’s degree
- Only 7% of East Chicago residents hold a degree
In order to gain any sort of economic growth in the upcoming years, East Chicago residents need to be able to compete in the challenging job market. The International Institute of Northwest Indiana (ICA) has been able to increase efforts in programming that help them progress toward post-secondary education with confidence. The growth and development of East Chicago depends on residents following the trend of obtaining a degree. The ICA assists with this by offering classes in computer skills, literacy, grammar and more. These classes help East Chicagoans who may be struggling in these areas to catch up and move on to college.
For more information on the ICA, please visit www.FoundationsEC.org.
