Lee Lawson, president of the Baldwin County Economic Development League, said the 2024 legislative session will bring great benefits to Alabama's workforce and economy, both now and in the future. In a recent video, Lawson spoke about some of the accomplishments made in the “Work for Alabama” bill package.

Lee Lawson summarises the “Working for Alabama” bill package for this legislative session. @GovernorKayIvey Will Rainsworth translator Al Reiber BC Committee #Human Resources Development #success #future pic.twitter.com/k2T94mnEoV

— Baldwin County EDA (@BaldwinCountyED) June 18, 2024

“The 2024 legislative session was a very closely watched session for a variety of reasons,” Lawson said, “but what was important to us from an economic development standpoint was a package of bills that worked for Alabama.”

“It covered a wide range of things, but it was primarily focused on workforce development. Not only supporting workforce development capacity across the state, but consolidating agencies and efforts to make it more streamlined in how the state approaches workforce development.”

Lawson said one of the main aims of the reforms is to get people back to work who are simply not working.

“Demand is growing because of successful economic development, so we have job openings right now with a workforce pipeline and workforce participation rates that don't match the success we've had.”

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“The real purpose and focus was really about removing barriers for Alabamians to get off the sidelines and join the workforce and helping the next generation growing up through our education system have a better opportunity to jump right into the workforce.”

He also identified some of the more common obstacles for people who may not be able to join the workforce.

“Child care is one of the biggest disincentives for people to join the workforce, from the cost of child care, availability of child care facilities, and we also have a workforce housing tax credit as part of the bill, which is really affordable. The availability of workforce housing is a challenge in many parts of the state, especially the fastest growing areas of the state like Baldwin County.”

Lawson praised the collaborative efforts of those involved in developing the comprehensive approach.

“Overall, this session was focused on workforce development to support Alabama's economic development agenda,” Lawson said. “It was really positive to see legislative leaders, from the governor to the lieutenant governor, to state legislative leaders and county legislative delegations, come together to make great strides not only for the state of Alabama, but for our local economic development organizations who are supporting our workforce development approach in Alabama.”

Austin Shipley is a staff writer for Yellow Hammer News. You can follow him on X. @ShipleyAusten