The Alabama Department of Labor will officially be renamed to the Department of Workforce on Saturday.
Secretary of Labor Marty Redden is retiring. Former State Sen. Pro-Tem Greg Reed (R-Jasper) will be the state’s first secretary of workforce. Reed resigned effective January 1 to serve as Gov. Kay Ivey’s senior advisor for workforce transformation.
“Increasing Alabama’s labor force participation rate is the current focus of our workforce development efforts. We are attracting significant business investments and new jobs, and we are helping our existing companies grow, and it is imperative we prepare our workforce,” Ivey said. “I am grateful for the good work Marty has done to begin this new chapter of workforce development in Alabama. I am excited for Greg to now take the helm and get to work.”
Ivey signed into law the Alabama Workforce Transformation Act in 2024 to streamline the state’s workforce development efforts. Alabama Department of Labor Secretary Fitzgerald Washington retired in September.
“I am immensely honored to be the first Secretary of Workforce for the state of Alabama, and I am incredibly thankful to Governor Ivey that she has entrusted me to carry out her vision to tackle this all important task. Today is the first step in our mandate to make Alabama’s economy all that she can be, and workforce will be at the forefront of that mission. It is my commitment that this new agency will do all that it can to ensure Alabama workers are the best trained and most highly skilled in America,” Reed said. “It will be my focus to champion Governor Ivey’s goals by collaborating with the business community, the education community, the manufacturing and industrial community, the Alabama Legislature and our federal delegation to coordinate our efforts and achieve best outcomes for the people of Alabama. I could not be more excited about this new and important initiative.”
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