COVID-19 Has Made Economic Development an Even Higher Priority

Economic development has always been a priority in Eastern Kentucky. As coal jobs began to disappear, a concerted effort to attract businesses became critical to maintaining the local population of our region and for maintaining our quality of life. 

One East Kentucky has been tasked with fulfilling this mission to recruit businesses and create jobs. And we’re good at it. We have successes to share, such as the recruitment of Dajcor Aluminum to the region, but we have more work to do. We will not be satisfied until everyone who wants a job in Eastern Kentucky has one. 

Now that COVID-19 has created waves of job losses throughout the country we are in an environment that is more competitive than ever. That makes our job - economic development, an even higher priority and one that must be funded and acted upon. 

Paul Patton, former Governor of Kentucky said, “As Governor, my research of Kentucky’s economy determined that for every original job in Kentucky that could be located someplace else, it created two other jobs in the service sector. This means that every job created as a result of One East Kentucky’s efforts could employ three people. We need those jobs.” We couldn’t agree more. Click here to learn more about our strategy and how One East Kentucky is pushing business recruitment forward during COVID-19.