Occupational Priorities 2024

Georgia Mountains Works Employer Partners annually participate in an Occupational Priorities Survey for the MFG & Trade-Related occupations they deem to be of the greatest priority. In 2024, we had a 59% participation rate with 24 employers participating representing 8 of the 13 counties in the Georgia Mountains Region 2.

Industrial Maintenance Mechanic, Frontline Supervisor and Mechatronics/Robotics were each in the top 3 in the previous year. The 2023 Occupational Priorities included 8 of the Top 10 listed in 2024 although in a different priority order.

Occupational Priorities are use annually to determine Georgia Mountains Works workgroups, Wage Survey occupations, among other communications and resources. In the past, because of the Occupational Priority Survey results, the Quality Technician Control Apprenticeship, and the Supervisor & Industry Leadership (branded SAIL and LEAD) were created and are each offered at Lanier Technical College and North Georgia Technical College.

This year, partners were also asked to rank their interest in Training Creation priorities – 60% of participants agreed that they would like to see “Train the Trainer” training prepared.

You can expect the partnership to be working on continuous improvement in workforce development efforts to benefit the manufacturing and trade-related industries sectors.

*Occupational Priorities refers to the priority of critical need of or for a particular occupation. Critical Needs can be defined by the company as skills or number of openings or both – depending on the priority.