34 Worcester Business Journal | Fact Book 2017 | wbjournal.com
BY GRANT WELKER
Worcester Business Journal News Editor
Filling the basics
Central Massachusetts' much-touted educated
workforce has created a need for less-learned
employees
S
o much talk about job creation
is about luring tech companies,
startups or even longshot
attempts to lure Amazon. But
the reality of what jobs Central
Massachusetts workers go to each day is
very different.
Of the 15 most common occupations
in the region, only one — registered
nurses — requires a bachelor's degree.
Area workers are much more likely to
be employed as retail salespeople, office
Jeffrey Turgeon,
executive director
of the Central
Massachusetts
Workforce
Investment Board
clerks, food service workers, teachers'
assistants or laborers.
That's sharply at odds with public
debate and ambitions, which far more
often revolve around leveraging the
area's colleges and growing employers to
create a more thriving region.
In fact, the biggest challenges for area
workforce agencies isn't finding college
graduates positions at the largest or hot-
test tech companies, but something far
more basic.
According to workforce officials who
Developments like the $160-million Apex
Center in Marlborough, which needed
construction workers to build and once it
opens will need people like food service
employers, are prime examples of
economic efforts needing workforces
with expertise other than that provided
by a college degree.
C e n t r a l M a s s . W o r k f o r c e
A S S E T S
Continued on Page 37
