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Lawmakers get updates on declining population and workforce in eastern Kentucky

Shaping Our Appalachian Region

The Kentucky General Assembly’s Workforce Attraction and Retention Task Force recently met to discuss a declining population and workforce in eastern Kentucky.

The task force heard from Colby Hall, Executive Director of Shaping Our Appalachian Region, or SOAR, a nonprofit that aims to increase the economic mobility and population of eastern Kentucky.

According to Hall, the region is aging faster than the national average as people move away. He said the area population has declined by around ten percent while the rest of the country’s population has increased by roughly 50 percent.

EKY Remote, a SOAR program aimed at bringing people into the region, launched in 2023. Since then, 36 adults and 14 children have relocated to eastern Kentucky. Hall said over 4,400 people have shown interest in moving so far.

According to Hall, long-term joblessness is an issue as well. He said some of the area’s biggest industries, such as coal, are shells of their former selves.

“You’re starting to get into multiple generations of families and individuals that have been outside the workforce. They haven’t been attached to an industry. People have been in survival mode,” said Hall.

He said there are over 150,000 people across 36 eastern Kentucky counties between the ages of 16 and 64 who aren’t working.

Hall said SOAR’s Eastern Kentucky Runway Plan recently received a $40 million federal grant and a $4 million investment from the legislature.

“This grant is going to provide a multitude of resources and supports where we’re going to find them and bring them back into the jobs that are in sectors like healthcare, sectors like infrastructure-related projects, and emerging opportunities in the remote workspace,” said Hall.

The initiative’s five-year Recompete Program grant launched on October 1. Hall said the problem won’t be completely solved in just five years, but he hopes the program will be a catalyst to make a difference in the region.