Hundreds of manufacturing jobs are open in DeKalb County. The plan to train a local workforce

CLARKSTON, Ga. — A national financial survey finds that nearly two million jobs remain open across the U.S. in manufacturing. Hundreds of them are in industries located in DeKalb County.

Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen was in Clarkston with the joint effort underway to fill those jobs. The county is working with Georgia Piedmont Technical College to train a workforce.

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Twenty-year-old Jalen Scott says right from the start, he knew he was wired for this. 

“You get giddy, like a little kid. You get to see all these things and it’s just---whew,” Scott described.

In the Automations Lab at Georgia Piedmont Technical College, several students were really amped by what they were learning on Monday.

“As a DeKalb County native and resident, I wish I would have known about these sorts of programs,” Dorian DeBarr said. 

DeBarr is the president of Decide DeKalb, the county’s economic development arm, and helped to create one of the programs.

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The program is called MADE in DeKalb. DeBarr says several major companies with facilities in the county need hundreds of workers with skills in manufacturing. The program is training them. 

Richard Andrews is the executive director.  He says his graduates have gone right to work earning $25 an hour and more.

“Everyone got placed,” Andrews said.

That’s Jalen Scott’s plan, to learn how to do it today and get paid to do it tomorrow. 

“It’s an amazing level of confidence. You know that once you learn everything here, you’re set,” Scott said.

To learn more about MADE in DeKalb, click here.

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