Ask any economic development official throughout the state, and they’ll tell you the availability of a skilled workforce is one of the top concerns for companies when they’re choosing where to set up shop. Whether it’s a tire plant in West Point or data center in Hinds County, companies want a deep pool of employees to pull from wherever they decide to go.

But how do we prove skilled workers are there?

Well, Lauderdale County’s recent designation as an ACT Work Ready Community does exactly that.

The ACT Work Ready program is a cooperative effort between education leaders, business owners and economic development officials to measure and grow the community’s workforce. Local high school students take the ACT WorkKeys test, which measures their abilities in applied math, workplace documents and graphic literacy. Based on their performance on the standardized exam, students can earn a bronze, silver, gold or platinum level certificate.

As schools measure students’ skills, businesses also play a role in helping to develop job profiles. The duties of a particular job are weighed and the appropriate WorkKeys certificate level needed to be successful in that role is assigned. Communities must reach a certain level of residents tested and job profiles developed to earn the Work Ready Community designation.

Fancy title and shiny certificates aside, being a Work Ready Community carries with it some very real, highly beneficial consequences. For students, their certification level on the Work Keys exam is proof to potential employers nationwide that they have what it takes to do the job. Seeing Mississippi on a resume may raise an eyebrow or two, but a silver certificate is the same in San Diego as it is in Sebastopol.

The Work Ready Community status also gives Meridian and Lauderdale County much needed data to show potential industries and employers that we have the skilled workers they desperately need. As with the certificates, the job profiles created by businesses are applicable anywhere in the country, and it will be the work of seconds to show employers the number of local test takers performing at the level their industry requires.

Getting to this point took enormous effort from all of our local public schools, Meridian Community College, the city of Meridian and the 133 local businesses that have agreed to recognize the Work Keys certificates.

Let’s celebrate this achievement and take a moment to say thank you to everyone who was involved.