LOUISVILLE (May 31, 2017) — After several months of research by the contracted firm IQS Research and the University of Louisville, Greater Louisville Inc. pinpointed the types of open positions Greater Louisville must fill to grow its population and local economy.

In addition to job types, the research sets forth locations where people are most likely to originate from to relocate to Greater Louisville. It also indicates the job sectors that are projected to experience rapid growth.

“This is the first time any group in our region has attempted to solve this issue. It is vital that our strategies be rooted in solid, timely data,” Lisa Bajorinas, GLI’s VP of Entrepreneurship & Talent, said. “With the right information, we can execute a marketing strategy that will bring more skilled people to this region. This effort is how we will continue to grow the local economy.”

An overwhelming 90 percent of the current open positions in Greater Louisville requiring an Associate’s Degree or further education are in the business services and healthcare and innovation clusters.

Currently the following jobs that are the most sought by employers:

• Registered nurses

• General and operations managers

• Sales representatives, wholesale and manufacturing

• Accountants and auditors

• Business operations specialists

• Software developers, applications

• Financial managers

• Claims adjustors, examiners, and investigators

• First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers

• Management analysts

The research found that those positions are most often held by middle-aged, educated individuals. Since a larger segment of population of the United States is aging out of the workforce in the next decade, Greater Louisville Inc. is working hard at attracting and retaining more educated, working age (25-54 years-old) people to make their homes in the Greater Louisville region.

Further study of economic trends indicates that the following jobs have the highest projected growth (4 percent or more) over the next several years within Greater Louisville:

• Registered nurses

• Personal financial advisors

• General and operations managers

• Accountants and auditors

• Software developers, applications

• Management analysts

• Computer systems analysts

• Business operations specialists

• Claims adjustors, examiners, and investigators

• Financial managers

All of these positions are classified in the business services, healthcare, and STEM clusters.

The research also identified cities where people are most likely to leave to relocate to Louisville. People living within a 500 mile radius of the city of Louisville, where identified as the most likely to move to Greater Louisville. The top cities with people who hold the skillsets identified in the open job postings were determined to be:

• Nashville

• Indianapolis

• Des Moines, Iowa

• Chicago

• Columbia, S.C.

• Milwaukee

• Pittsburgh

The IQS research is the first step in building a marketing outreach campaign that encourages people to relocate to Louisville. It will be executed alongside GLI’s LiveInLou brand which encourages people to celebrate the reasons they live within our region and provides information about Louisville as an exciting place to call home. Learn more at LiveInLou.com or on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram.

“We are really making a leap into uncharted territory,” Bajorinas added. “However, we know we must get ahead of the trends in our talent efforts to make sure Greater Louisville is positioned to be competitive on a national and global level. There are so many amenities to calling this region home. Now it is our job to sell them.”

Generous grants from both the James Graham Brown and Gheens Foundations through the Greater Louisville Foundation allowed GLI to finance this research.