Workforce Central tells Tacoma committee: health care jobs dominate growth but many pay near $20 an hour; focus on disconnected young adults

Workforce Central representatives told the City of Tacoma Economic Development Committee on April 14 that Tacoma’s labor market shows a strong concentration of health-care employment and a slowing of unique job postings, and that the organization is prioritizing programs for disconnected young adults and employer-driven paid work experience to connect workers to living-wage careers.

"As of January, we had about a 120,000 people in the labor force in Tacoma, representing about a 120,000 workers and about 8,000 folks who are unemployed and actively looking for work," said Josh Stoball, Workforce Central’s senior director of data research, reporting a January unemployment count that he said translates to roughly a 6.3% rate. Stoball told committee members that monthly unique job postings have cooled to about 3,200–3,300 and that government and health-care employers supply a high share of current openings.

The presentation emphasized that forecasted net new occupations are led by health-care roles — services for the elderly and persons with disabilities, hospitals and physicians’ offices — but many openings in those fields have median wages at or near $20 an hour. "So at that point, I'll use home health care, personal care, about $21," Stoball said, noting wide wage distributions and the challenge of creating quality, upward pathways.

Workforce Central said it is prioritizing a population of "disconnected young adults" (ages 16–24 not in employment, education or training). Stoball said Tacoma has about 3,500 such young adults — roughly one in six in that age bracket — with higher concentrations in South Tacoma. He said the group faces multiple barriers (lack of skills, housing instability, childcare access) and that a more detailed disconnected-young-adult report will be released soon.

Samuel Bradshaw, who leads Workforce Central’s business solutions team, described a tested "employer hire-first" paid work-experience model in which participating employers hire interns as employees on day one and are later reimbursed for wages. "In a typical internship program, we see about 30% retention into employment rate for young people. With this model, we have an 80% retained in the job after the paid work experience is over," Bradshaw said, adding that the model requires employer buy-in and often matches up to 50% of Workforce Central’s investment.

Committee members pressed presenters on data sources and program capacity. Stoball described PUMAs (public use microdata areas) as the census geography used to analyze local patterns, and presenters said Workforce Central can produce more granular reports (broken out by ages 16–18 versus over 18) and provide tailored analyses for council districts. Staff also noted collaborations with Clover Park Technical College and the Eastside Training Center to expand short-term training, pre-apprenticeships and green-skills integration.

Presenters recounted rapid-response work after the WestRock closure, including on-site outreach, unemployment navigators and rapid placement supports; they said those efforts contacted roughly 80% of laid-off workers and produced more than 100 placements during initial follow-up. Katie Connick said Workforce Central operates under an interlocal agreement between the City of Tacoma and Pierce County and has a lean staff of about 24, directing most program funding out to partner providers.

On retention and wages, Workforce Central recommended employers examine compensation, job descriptions and workplace supports (childcare flexibility, scheduling and other benefits) and noted apprenticeship and nontraditional apprenticeship pilots in behavioral health and child care. The presentation also underscored entrepreneurship and small-business services (accelerators, workshops and trusted-messenger partnerships to reach smaller employers).

The committee did not take formal action on policy at the meeting; presenters offered to return with more detailed reports and to provide follow-up data by council district.

The committee moved on to other agenda items after the presentation and formally adjourned later in the meeting.