Virginia Economic Review

Peter Beard is vice president of policy and programs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, where he leads workforce development projects and initiatives.

When Lydia Ruffin began work as a restaurant server, her goal was to support herself through school. She could not have anticipated how profoundly that entry-level job would shape her career.

Key investments at Virginia Tech, George Mason, University of Virginia help the Commonwealth position itself as a home for AI Innovation

Home to one of the largest concentrations of active duty and veteran talent in the country, Virginia has engineered an ecosystem that helps those who served translate military experience into high-value private sector careers.

New or expanding companies want to know that they will be able to hire workers with the skills they need. While outside training providers offer established but generic faculty, facilities, and programs, in-house solutions allow for customization but require significant investment.

As more tenured employees must upskill and reskill to adjust to an economy that is increasingly reliant on technology and, specifically, artificial intelligence (AI), Generation Z workers are entering the labor market as the first generation of digital natives.

L. Scott Bradshaw enrolled at Mountain Empire Community College (MECC) in Wise County as a student who needed a second chance after spending 57 months in prison. He had a job in a tire shop, but he wasn’t earning enough to pay off his fines and take care of his daily needs.

Alison Lands is vice president of employer and workforce solutions at Jobs for the Future (JFF), a national nonprofit that works to align the education and workforce systems to improve access to quality jobs for over 75 million American workers.

Tamara Fields is the national U.S. public service industry lead at Accenture, and managing director of the company’s Austin, Texas office.

Virginia’s long-held reputation as a top state for business is based on its strong economy, robust infrastructure, innovative incentives and programming, and, increasingly, its highly skilled workforce.

When Julia Boas and her husband, Patrick, have an errand to run or a friend to visit in their hometown of Roanoke, they rarely go by car. Instead, they hop on their e-bikes.

From fourth-generation oyster farms to award-winning distilleries, Virginia’s food and beverage trails offer a bounty for hungry travelers. Here’s how some of those businesses have benefited from being on these trails.

Dr. René Rodgers is head curator at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, where she leads the museum’s collections, permanent and special exhibits, and other educational programming.

As U.S. Route 58 winds west along the southern border of Virginia into the Blue Ridge Mountains, the road takes on another name — drawing on the distinctive music for which southwestern Virginia is known.

Virginia Offers Challenge and Respite as Midpoint for Thru-Hikers It happens every spring and fall in Virginia. In the south, on the Tennessee border, they come just as the dogwoods bloom.

Philip D’Anieri is a lecturer in urban and regional planning at the University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning, where he teaches courses on the built environment.

Medical Device Manufacturer Embody Sets Stage for International Growth For Norfolk-based Embody, Inc., the six-year process of product development, preclinical testing, and compliance hurdles to get its collagen-based tendon and ligament implant, Tapestry, into the U.S.

Partnership With JMU, BRCC Helps Merck Fill Need for HPV Vaccines In 2019, Melissa Lubin learned that pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., Inc., was competing for a billion-dollar expansion in Elkton, a town in the Shenandoah Valley.