When state officials talk about jobs and keeping Alabama economically competitive, the word “workforce” is no longer just a slogan.

Alabama’s top leaders detailed those efforts Tuesday evening at Yellowhammer News’ annual Legislative Preview event, featuring remarks from Workforce Secretary Greg Reed and a Q&A with House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman).

Reed, now leading the Alabama Department of Workforce in its first year after transitioning from the Alabama Department of Labor, said he has been encouraged by the agency’s progress.

“You know, this is year one of the Alabama Department of Workforce. We’ve done a lot in one year,” Reed said.

“We transitioned the agency. We cut through a bunch of red tape to do what the Legislature said we were supposed to do by October 1. I didn’t know if we could do it or not, but we did it—and we had a lot of help. We’ve got some great folks who helped us navigate there. A great team, a great staff.

We rebranded the agency. Hopefully you’ve seen a little bit of that—where we’re trying to brag on ourselves, and the fact that our new mission for the State of Alabama in growing the workforce has been something we’ve focused on.

And to that point, we increased the number of trained workers in the state of Alabama in 2025 by 25,000 people.”

Ledbetter said expanding career technical education remains a top legislative priority, but the state needs to rethink when students get access to those pathways.

“My main goal is this: I think we wait too late to get kids involved in career tech facilities—or career tech pathways, I should say. When it’s 11th and 12th grade—let’s be honest—I know what I was doing in 11th and 12th grade: I was looking for another job to put gas in my car and figuring out who I was going to date on Friday night—my wife, by the way.

We wait too long. We’ve got to give opportunities earlier.

I’ll tell a story I always go back to, because I think it’s important. A few years ago, the CEO from [a local hospital] came to see me. He said they had a cooperative program—where kids go half a day to school, then half a day to the hospital to work.

He told me he called a young man into the office and had his mom and dad come in. He said, ‘I wanted to talk to you. Your son’s doing a great job for us. We’d like to hire him full-time, and we’ll start him out at $48,000 a year.’

And he said the mom just burst out crying—got really emotional. He said, ‘Mam, I’m sorry—did I say something wrong?’ And she said, ‘No. What you don’t realize is: that’s more money than me and my husband have made in a year combined.’

That’s life-changing. We talk about it and it sounds good, but it’s affecting people’s lives.”

The Legislature invested $100 million in career tech facilities last year through a grant program, with demand outpacing available funding. Ledbetter has said lawmakers hope to add more money this session.

“One size does not fit all, right? And for us to be successful in career tech, we’ve got to make sure we do the right things and try to figure it out. But I feel good about what we’re doing,” Ledbetter said.