Outgoing Alabama Senate leader: New role will allow focus on workforce development

Outgoing Alabama Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said Thursday that his new role as an advisor for Gov. Kay Ivey would provide him the opportunity to focus on workforce and economic development.

“As the Alabama Senate President Pro Tem, again, which has been a great privilege of my lifetime, I am dealing with every single potential issue that all 34 other senators are going to have as highlights and priorities for them in their districts,” he said after speaking to the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. “That’s the job of the President of the Senate. I need to help them accomplish their goals for their districts and the collective goals for the people of Alabama.”

Reed, who has served in the Senate since 2010 and led the chamber since 2021, told reporters that his focus as the governor’s senior advisor to workforce transformation will be on workforce development; economic growth, industrial manufacturing growth and attracting businesses to the state. He announced last month that he would leave the Senate at the end of the year to take on the job.

Alabama’s overall employment picture is mixed. The state’s unemployment rate was just 2.9% in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was lower than the national rate of 4.1%.

But Alabama has struggled for decades with low workforce participation, due to shortfalls in education, transportation and child care. The state’s workforce participation rate in October was 57.5%, according to an Alabama Department of Labor October release. The national civilian labor force participation rate was 62.16% in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The number is worse In the Black Belt, were workforce participation was at 52% in June 2023, according to the University of Alabama Education Policy Center.

Reed spoke at the chamber event about the state’s efforts to attract business and improve workforce participation and training in the state. 

Phase One, he said, included Rebuild Alabama, a 2019 package that raised the state’s gas tax for the first time since 1992 in order to fund road and bridge projects around the state; the Game Plan, a package of bills passed in 2023 that renewed and expanded some economic incentives and provided funding for industrial site development; and the use of grants and federal money to expand broadband. 

Efforts to raise the gas tax had faltered in the past amid Republican opposition, and Gov. Kay Ivey faced criticism over it in the 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary. 

“It was tough, but now the signs are everywhere,” Reed said. “Rebuild Alabama (signs are) on roads and bridges that are being structured for the coming growth that Alabama can enjoy.”

Phase Two, Reed said, includes Innovate Alabama, a public-private partnership focused on entrepreneurship, innovation and technology according to their website, and Working for Alabama, a workforce development package that was passed last session and included programs and tax credits aimed at expanding access to housing and child care to improve the state’s workforce participation rate.

“You put Phase One and Phase Two together, you wind up with a great platform of stability and success that Alabama can’t build on and be able to move forward,” he said.

Reed said that they had to do a better job advertising Innovate Alabama because a knowledge-based economy was coming.

“Alabama is either going to be at the forefront of that economy or we’re going to be lagging behind and those folks in California and New York and Colorado, that want to act like they’re on the cutting edge, we’re better than them, okay?” he said. “And we’ve got so much to offer with the growth in all things technologically advanced.” 

Reed also said that his plan included “Four C’s:” conservative, connect, convince and coordinate.

“When I told my wife that I come up with it myself, she said, ‘Yeah, you probably came up with that yourself,’” he said.

He said the Legislature had been conservative with the budget. He said connectivity was important in providing internet access. Convince, he said, was to convince people to be a part of Alabama.

Coordinate, he said, was a big part of the Working for Alabama package to make sure they were in the right place to grow their economy.

Reed said students should be able to have career and education instruction so that they are able to join the workforce at 18 or 19.

“Look, in trying to grow the workforce, are we giving up on the 28 year old that’s living in grandma’s basement, okay?” he said. “No, we’re not. We need those folks to get a job. Okay, be part of the economy, but we’ve gotta focus on that ninth grade kid who’s trying to decide what she or he wants to be in life.” 

Alabama officials have placed more emphasis on college and career readiness in recent years, with more of a focus on career and technical education at the K-12 level.

Reed officially begins his new role on Jan. 1. Ivey will call a special election to fill his seat.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday nominated Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, to succeed Reed as Senate leader. Republicans hold 27 of the 35 seats in the chamber.