September 05, 2020

According to the U.S. Department of Labors website, Sept. 2, 2019 is the 125th anniversary of Labor Day being celebrated as a national holiday.

The DOL website offers a brief history: The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on Sept. 5, 1883. By 1894, 23 states had adopted the holiday, and on June 28, 1894, President Grover Cleveland signed a law making the first Monday in September of each year a national holiday.

Presently, workforce has become one of the leading drivers for location choices. In an article from the Wharton University of Pennsylvania The Headquarters Checklist: How Do Companies Pick A Location, Wharton management professor Peter Cappelli, Director of the Schools Center for Human Resources states: For most businesses, the issue of location choice now is driven by labor: Will we be able to attract the white-collar skills we need? For unskilled or semi-skilled jobs, will we be able to get it at a price we want to pay? No business goes to the Silicon Valley or New York City because it is cheap; they go because of the labor supply. Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Los Angeles economics research firm Beacon Economics, further strengthens this thought, It boils down to access to clients, access to labor force, access to suppliers these all play a role in these decisions.

Just as it was important to start the celebration of the workforce in 1882, the importance of the available workforce in site selection has made it even more vital and worthy of continued celebration.

The Maysville-Mason County Area Chamber of Commerce believes that Workforce is the heart of everything we do. It begins with our Mission Statement: To enhance economic growth, promote development and provide leadership of the business community in the Maysville-Mason County Area. That may still sound rather general, but thats the beauty of it the Chamber can move in almost any area where our membership has a need. To simplify it, we can break it down to three words, Enhance, Promote and Lead. But my favorite way to describe the Chamber is that we are a Connector. We can connect one person to another, or someone to the information or product that they need.

It has been a pleasure to provide the leadership for the process of becoming certified as a Kentucky Work Ready Community. We had the opportunity to prove that Mason County has the quality workforce employers are looking for. Our workforce has graduated from high school, has some college experience to a two-year or higher degree, and has attained Career Readiness Certificates. The Chamber, in conjunction with the Mason County School System, has developed the Work Ethic Seal Program to reward Mason County Juniors and Seniors for exhibiting the habits employers look for in an employee. One of the best outcomes of the program has been connecting all the stakeholders needed for the process: Economic Development, Business and Industry, Elected Officials, Education, Workforce Development and those who work with the Veteran, Disabled, Ex-offender, and Medicaid Populations. It takes all of us working together!

Always looking to the future, we partner with (enhance) and actively serve on committees for the Kentucky Career Center, Business Services Team and Maysville Community and Technical College. We produce (promote) a Relocation Guide to use when talking with new businesses or to help a new resident navigate settling in the area. We also produce the Maysville/Mason County map to help us all find our way around. We were a founding sponsor of the Maysville Young Professionals Network and continue to support them as they provide a connection to our new, younger residents. We regularly provide Professional Development opportunities (lead) such as our Exceeding Customer Expectations seminar on Sept. 26 and our Annual Leadership Conference. The Chamber helped to start the Leadership Horizons program which has continued for 20 years. We are proud to be a part of the steering committee to make Maysville the First Green Dot City and have had a couple of opportunities to represent Maysville at the State level.

Everything we do supports our workforce. It doesnt matter if the business is along the river or on top of the hill, or if they have one employee or 600, our goal is to connect them to the resources that are needed.

On this 126th Labor Day, lets all take a moment to thank each other for the great job everyone does. Truly, Big things are happening in Maysville and we have our workforce to thank for it.

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Painting the town red - Ledger Independent

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