Economic growth in Northern Kentucky continues to attract businesses and create jobs, but regional leaders say the labor force is struggling to keep pace. Even with population growth and a strong economy, employers across the region say worker shortages are becoming increasingly difficult to overcome.

In a perfect world, jobs and population growth work in harmony. In Northern Kentucky, “for every two people added to the population, one new job is created,” Ashby Drummond, research analyst at BE NKY, said, referring to a 2025 Economy in Review report.

Population growth has led the workforce to become larger in Northern Kentucky. As of early 2026, the Northern Kentucky regional workforce consists of approximately 217,000 workers, with a 66% participation rate that exceeds state and national averages, according to Be NKY’s Northern Kentucky Economy Review.

“Population growth has been positive, but the labor force requires even more, and the labor needs by the employers require even more population growth than we currently have,” Drummond said.

Even with the growing population and a healthy job market, jobs aren’t being filled. Corry Eimer, the Associate Director and Workforce Development, Northern Kentucky Area Development District, sees the relationship between population and jobs as dismal.

Nancy A. Spivey, vice president of talent strategies at NKY Chamber of Commerce, believes the region has strong participation in the workforce. She sees people in the region are not sitting on the sidelines, choosing not to work, which is a big positive to her.

“The fact that we have so many people who go to work every day, who like to work, we’re very fortunate to have a diverse economy where we’re not just manufacturing, we’re not just healthcare. We’ve got a broad spectrum of jobs, entry-level to professional level,” Spivey said.

Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties, even though grouped into Northern Kentucky, all have jobs that look very different from one another, but Eimer said they are syncing beautifully.

“The collaboration with those three counties is impressive,” Eimer said. “The judges for Boone, Kenton and Campbell counties all work together perfectly, and that makes for a stronger region.

Drummond notices the Commonwealth has seen spillover from the city of Cincinnati, especially in Boone County, Covington and Newport, because, in those areas, there aren’t enough people to work specific jobs.

“You see a lot in the skilled labor around the airport, advanced manufacturing, logistics and transportation industries, there just simply aren’t enough people who want to work those jobs, who live in Boone County or who live in Kenton County,” Drummond said. “So they have to import that labor from primarily across the river.”

Northern Kentucky is facing issues of a chronic labor shortage, even in this growing population, because of a rapidly aging population, slowing birth rates and limited in-migration.

The aging population, people over 60, makes up 23% of the whole population, and has tightened the talent pipeline in the region. According to BE NKY’s Northern Kentucky Economy Review. 

Drummond believes this aging workforce isn’t the regular narrative where younger people don’t want to work. 

“There are just fewer people in this younger cohort who are in their prime working years of 25 to 55 right now than there were in the previous generation,” Drummond said. 

Eimer said the aging population is a problem for the workforce. He believes the younger generation is working, but is doing “gig jobs.” Gig work is any individual task, short-term project or ongoing work that an independent worker completes for a client that is not their W-2 employer, according to the US Chamber of Commerce. 

“I think sometimes we see this high unemployment rate for younger people. It’s a little bit misleading,” Eimer said. “I think a lot of those kids are working. It’s just that they don’t get captured in the numbers.” 

The growth in the region has also brought challenges. Spivey said she sees new companies entering the market, and they overpromise, which is saturating the market, specifically for those low-entry, low-skill jobs.

“We don’t have the market to support 1000 more $20 an hour production line workers,” Spivey said. “Our population is such that we need more people to do the skilled jobs. We need more people to be educated. Those are the jobs that exist that we need people to fill.”

Nationally, the job market is down, but it is steadily on the rise. In April’s Job report, which landed at 115,000 new jobs, the unemployment rate is unchanged at 4.3%. Eimer believes the national job market being down is not really affecting the regional job market. According to Decode Econ, it is only affecting it strategically, like bringing more people to live and work here.

“Economic development-wise, we’re bucking the trend,” Eimer said. “Kentucky is doing better than most states in terms of economic development, like bringing more jobs to the state, cost of living is very competitive here, so that helps from a work perspective. I still have some ways to go when it comes to doing more to bring people here.”

Artificial intelligence also plays a huge factor in the workforce, with the unknown of where AI will be in the future. 

Drummond believes in the next five years, AI will have a greater impact on white-collar jobs than on manufacturing and logistics jobs. He sees major concerns in the realm of entry-level jobs from a talent growth perspective.

“I’m talking about financial analysts, accountants, legal professionals, consultants, those sorts of industries; their mid-level management is implementing AI already at a rate where they feel like they can grow without having to add new positions,” Drummond said. “What AI is doing is limiting the need within the company for those entry-level jobs because that work that the entry-level occupant would have been doing is automated.”

Spivey believes there are unknowns with AI on how it can impact the workforce, but she does know the skills people will bring to the workforce have to be higher than ever.

“We know it’s going to decrease jobs, or know there’s with advances in technology, there will be the likelihood that those AI technologies will replace people,” Spivey said. “But we also know the skill set of people is going to have to be a higher level than it has ever been before.”

Efficiently using AI is Eimer’s takeaway. He knows it’s going to impact white-collar jobs and the workforce as a whole, but if people going into the workforce can leverage what AI can do, they can be a good asset to any company.

“I think the more important thing is, if you’re entering the workforce, you just need to know how to effectively and responsibly use AI,” Eimer said. “It can be a super helpful tool, but also sort of dangerous, because it’s designed to give you an answer no matter what.”

Drummond said he doesn’t see the population continuing to grow in Northern Kentucky as a negative thing.

“We’re attracting businesses to the region. We’re helping businesses here grow,” Drummond said. “They want to be in a region where talent wants to be, so it is going to be extremely important for our region to prioritize keeping and growing that talent so that we can continue at the and have the level of prosperity that Northern Kentucky has had over the last 15 to 20 years.”

In Spivey’s eyes, the region needs to work on affordable housing. She wants sufficient housing for workers that is affordable.

“If that looks like apartments, or if that looks like small two-bedroom, one bath homes, individuals have to understand our market is shifting and changing, and we may be done with the days of four-bedroom, three bath neighborhoods,” Spivey said. “Being able to have sufficient childcare and housing to accommodate our growing workforce is going to be necessary.”

Spivey wants people to keep an open mind and follow the change in the workforce, especially with the region changing and growing every day. 

“You may be today saying, ‘I’m going to graduate and I’m going to do this,’ but that might not exist five years from now,” Spivey said. “So you have to be able to think and be nimble and be able to understand the value of what you bring to any role in any company, and be that value add, no matter what your opportunity is. I think that’s the people that are going to find success.”