Discretionary income, the money available for goods and services, will be limited which ultimately retracts revenues for all businesses throughout the Workforce Development Area. Hence, training and resources delineated in the services and strategies of the local operations plan will be appropriate to the needs of existing and emerging businesses and their current and future workforce skill needs. The Workforce Development Council will maintain ongoing relationships with employers and local Economic Development groups to identify areas of growth and skill needs. Identified skill needs include industry specific skills and core competencies that make an individual employable and an effective worker. The predominate activity of the area's labor force is agriculture.
Most work relates to the diversity of farm production.
Along with that comes the influx of migrant workers during harvest creating wide spread changes in workforce composition. Due to the seasonal nature of a high percentage of the jobs, the unemployment rate varies remains perennially high. Accordingly, adults in that segment had minimal literacy skills. Factors relating to English proficiency, low education attainment, and poverty have been barriers for their employment. For example, youth are required to help support their families and often do not have the opportunity to obtain the basic educational skill required for better jobs.