It’s a match: Workforce Development Board pairs workers, employers with resources

When hundreds of workers were laid off following the Tyson Foods plant closure in Dexter and the Magnitude 7 Metals plant closure in Marston, the Workforce Development Board of Southeast Missouri (WDB) was on the case to help connect them with new job opportunities.

Gretchen Morse, president and chief operating officer of WDB, oversees workers covering 13 counties, from St. Francois County south to the Bootheel, with offices in Park Hills, Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Kennett. Hers is one of 13 WDB regions across the state.

The WDBs exist to help connect people looking for work with employers looking for workers and vice versa. In the Southeast Missouri region alone, Morse said they assisted some 10,000 workers in 2023. These included many laid-off plant workers.

“A lot of those individuals came in, received training in a new industry, and we got them employed,” Morse said.

In addition to connecting workers and employers to various partner agencies such as the Job Corps and Vocational Rehabilitation, the WDBs provide a slew of other services. These include career readiness classes, mock interviews, resume assistance and overseeing hiring events.

“All of this that we do, here in our region and across the state of Missouri, it’s only building our communities and helping people,” Morse said. “... We want to get individuals employment, self sustainable employment, and we want to get employers qualified employees.”

Everyone who walks in or calls the job center has different needs, Morse said. Anyone looking for employment or a different line of work can visit them for free, though some programs have specific eligibility requirements. WDB staff use social media and partner agencies to spread the word about their services.

“Any time there are community events, we will have tables set up, have literature out there. We get literature in places like your libraries, we have information for individuals that come in,” Morse added. Employers and workers may visit the WDB’s website at https://job4you.org or the Missouri Office of Workforce Development at https://jobs.mo.gov.

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