Branson Landing to create 2,800 new jobs

The leasing activity brings an expected 2,800 new jobs to the waterfront, according to Connie Dyer, director of marketing and corporate communications for Urban Retail Properties Co., the Chicago-based company handling leasing for Branson Landing.

Job creation is usually a good thing for a community, but not necessarily in Branson, where employers already find it difficult to fill positions.

“We are really concerned,” said Jaydean Miller, work force development supervisor with the Missouri Career Center in Springfield, which shares a region with the career center in Branson.

Miller said a committee of the career center in Branson has been meeting to find ways to fill those new jobs. Solutions have been difficult to reach, she said.

“I think we’ve got a responsibility here. This is economic development for our region,” she said. “I can’t tell you we’ve actually done anything, but I think we’re starting to hear it and recognize and realize that there’s got to be some people coming to the table and figuring out some answers.”

More residents, more workers

Mike Rankin, economic development director for the city of Branson, represents the other side of the issue. He is confident the quality of life in the Ozarks and opportunities created by Branson Landing will bring more residents.

“If you look at most communities that grow, it’s not just one component that grows. One forces the other to grow,” he said. “We’re never going to be able to move people to an area where there’s no job growth. One feeds the other.”

Rankin’s thoughts have some backers. Margie Brown, human resources manager for Country Mart grocery stores, said, “I think as it comes more of a reality, as we get closer to the opening, it will attract more people to come here because of the job availabilities.”

Country Mart operates four grocery stores in the Branson area, employing 350.

Brown also is president of the Missouri Employer Committee, the Missouri Career Center group that meets quarterly in Branson. Finding workers to fill the new positions has been a topic of discussion at the meetings.

“It’s a two-sides-of-the-coin thing,” Brown said. While employers look forward to progress, “on the other side of the coin we have to deal with the issue of having enough people to fill the positions that will be open and at the same time keep the positions filled that are currently here.”

Earning a living

Bill Niblack, a research manager with the Department of Economic Development’s Research and Information Center, said that the unemployment rate for Taney and Stone counties was 15.9 percent in March. During the summer months last year, it was around 6 percent, and during January and February, it hovered around 22 percent.

The average wage in Missouri in 2003, the most recent data available, was $33,788 per year, Niblack said. That same year, the average wage for Taney County was $22,163.

Wages can pose a problem in job recruitment, said Cheryl Ratterree, co-owner of Express Personnel in Hollister. Ratterree said the majority of jobs in Branson pay $7 to $8 per hour.

“To come in for a basic position that pays under $10 an hour you’re going to have a hard time paying for rent, a car payment, insurance, all the basic needs, plus possibly child care,” Ratterree said. “There are companies here where the managers are doing very basic labor positions because there’s not enough people, and it is scary for those of us that are building businesses and want to give the service that we so desperately desire to provide. We don’t have the people to make that a possibility.”

As a future tenant at Branson Landing, representatives of The Fudgery don’t expect staffing to be a problem. Cory Sugg, manager of The Fudgery at Tanger Outlet Mall, oversees about 12 employees and said applicants aren’t hard to find. “A lot of students are coming in and people are always moving to town,” he said.

Arlene Ivey, corporate secretary and administrator at the company’s Gainesville, Ga., headquarters, anticipates hiring two full-time and eight part-time employees for the company’s fourth Branson store in Branson Landing.