Understanding Licking County’s Emerging Workforce: 2025 Survey Results

GROW Licking County, in partnership with OhioMeansJobs Licking County and the Licking County Foundation, recently completed the 2025 Emerging Workforce Survey to better understand the priorities and concerns of local high school students as they consider their career paths. The findings are helping guide strategic workforce development initiatives across the county.

The survey was conducted with high school juniors during the Career Xpress seminar in March 2025. Students were asked to indicate which of “the 3 E’s” they were most likely to pursue after graduation: enrollment (college or post-secondary training), employment, or enlistment (military service). They then answered detailed questions about their choices and shared their broader career goals and values.

Key Takeaways:

• College Is Still the Default
  A strong majority of students (79%) selected enrollment, while 18% chose employment. Very few indicated interest in enlistment, signaling a potential need for greater outreach from military recruiters.

• Students Are Thinking Independently
  Across all groups, students placed low importance on whether friends or family were pursuing similar paths. Instead, their top career priorities were work-life balance, job stability, and freedom to pursue personal interests. These findings suggest today’s students are trendsetters, focused on the quality and meaning of their work rather than following traditional or familial expectations.

• Entrepreneurial Spirit Is Strong
  Among employment-focused students, entrepreneurship ranked high as a desired path, highlighting a need for programming and resources around starting a business.

• Location Preferences Vary by Path
  College-bound students were nearly four times more likely to say they plan to move out of state. In contrast, students planning to enter the workforce directly were more than twice as likely to want to stay in Licking County—emphasizing the importance of creating strong local job opportunities for these students.

These insights are crucial for educators, employers, and policymakers working to retain talent and support career readiness in Licking County.

Click here to download the full survey results.