Having trouble getting hired, or troubled by lack of hiring? Come to this forum

Don’t have a high school diploma or GED? Not in school and not working?

No problem. There are employment resources in this area to help put you on a path toward earning a liveable wage.

A community forum Wednesday (Oct. 17) will explain how the Pierce County Workforce Development Council aims to help individuals seeking work, with the hope of building a more talented and educated employee pipeline to fill area jobs.

In a release, the council said it “has identified two important groups: young adults who are not working and are not in school, and adults without a high school diploma or equivalent. Our goal is to effectively address the barriers these individuals face in accessing education and training and finding meaningful work that provides a living wage.”

The council said it wants “to hear from members of the community who are interested in learning about how we plan to prepare local people for local jobs.”

The discussion will follow presentation of the draft employment strategic plan, which lists two goals to reach by 2025:

▪ Reduce the number of “disconnected” young adults (those neither working nor in school), ages 16 to 24, by half, to 7,650 from 15,300.

▪ Reduce the number of residents between the ages of 25 to 64 without a high school diploma or a GED by half, to 19,237 from 38,475.

Wednesday’s sessions will be from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 3:30-5 p.m. at 3650 S. Cedar St., Tacoma.

Other recent, local employment updates:

▪ WorkForce Central last week unveiled its new jobs board that is specific to Pierce County.

▪ A meeting Oct. 24 will help introduce people to construction careers with Sound Transit. The meeting will be from 6-8 p.m. at the Tacoma campus of The Evergreen State College, 1210 Sixth Ave.

This story was originally published October 15, 2018 at 2:15 PM.