Local companies share hiring and training needs

Local companies share hiring and training needs
Joe deSousa

Tuscarawas County is home to about 200 manufacturers, with most of them searching for workers.

                        

Tuscarawas Economic Development Corporation has been spearheading a coalition of workforce development, economic development and local company representatives for several months to better address the workforce shortages in manufacturing, skilled trades, restaurants and other industries.

Organizations involved in this coalition include OhioMeansJobs Tuscarawas County, Kent State University at Tuscarawas, Buckeye Career Center, Tuscarawas County Economic Development Corporation, the Tuscarawas Chamber of Commerce, Allied Machine & Engineering, and Peterman Plumbing & Heating.

Over the past two and a half years, the TCEDC met with over 150 manufacturers throughout Tuscarawas County as part of its regular outreach to support local manufacturers. The overwhelming need from most local manufacturers has been for more workers.

One company said it would like to add a third shift if they could hire enough workers. Another company has new products in mind, but they don’t have the workforce numbers needed to develop and get this new product to market. Local restaurants are struggling too, and some of them have been cutting back on their open hours due to a lack of employees.

The coalition recently conducted a survey of Tuscarawas County manufacturing leaders to get a snapshot of the current workforce situation. Thirty local manufacturers responded to the online survey and shared their hiring and training needs. The following are some of the highlights from the survey summary:

Tuscarawas County is home to about 200 manufacturers, with most of them searching for workers. When asked how many job openings they expect to have in the next three months, 10 companies listed one to four openings. Another six companies responded with five to 10 openings. One company expects to have over 50 openings this summer. From all the responses, there is a possibility of 251-486 job openings in the next three months just from the 30 companies that responded to the survey.

Many companies shared the need for skilled industrial and electrical maintenance workers. This was a recurring theme in the survey, with maintenance noted as the second most difficult position to fill in recent months just behind entry-level production/general labor jobs.

One area of concern from local manufacturers is the number of retirements on the horizon. Thirteen companies expect to see five or less retirements in the next two to three years, but six out of 30 companies expect to have 10 or more retirements in this same period.

A follow-up question asked what percentage of the workforce is retiring in the next two to three years. The average answer was over 14%, indicating one out of every seven workers from these companies will retire in the next two to three years.

For some companies, the percentage of soon-to-be retirees was much higher. Several companies expect to see 25% of their workforce retiring. When asked how the company was preparing for these soon-to-be retirements, the majority of them were doing cross-training and job-shadowing to pass on the knowledge of experienced workers.

One of the goals from the survey was to identify gaps in workforce training opportunities. When asked what training would most benefit the company, the top-three answers were industrial maintenance, basic manufacturing skills and welding.

Buckeye Career Center and Kent State Tuscarawas already offer courses in maintenance and welding. There is currently discussion to create a pre-apprenticeship program, which would offer individuals a basic manufacturing skills training. This would help to fill a need for entry-level manufacturing jobs where an individual could jumpstart their career by bringing some basic production and safety awareness to a new job.

Many local companies also shared they would like to know more about the training and other resources available through Buckeye Career Center, Kent State Tuscarawas and OhioMeansJobs.

According to data provided by OhioMeansJobs, there were a total of 1,305 open jobs in Tuscarawas County as of June 2. The Stark Tuscarawas Workforce Development Board recently launched www.tusccountymeansjobs.com, a jobs platform resource that provides in-depth data for current job openings within the county. The job-opening data is updated monthly and provides more in-depth information regarding job wages, education requirements, location of jobs and more.

Individuals who are interested in securing employment can register at www.ohiomeansjobs.com and upload their current resume. Any job seeker needing more information or assistance to apply to job openings or businesses needing assistance with finding qualified candidates can call the OhioMeansJobs Center of Tuscarawas County at 330-602-2850.


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