City’s annual workforce survey reveals stark hiring challenges

Results of the city’s 2021 Momentum State of the Workforce Survey were announced yesterday, revealing a high number of respondents struggling to find qualified applicants, among other concerns, in a year heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The seventh-annual survey findings announced by the Missouri Job Center noted 68% of survey participants reported hiring difficulty in the past year. While the total was down slightly from the 71% reported in the 2020 survey, two of the job sectors – health care and for-profit – both cited a high level of hiring challenges. Roughly 86% in the health care sector, followed by 74% of for-profit businesses, reported hiring difficulties.

“This year was particularly challenging for businesses to recruit job candidates,” said Sally Payne, interim director of workforce development for the city of Springfield, who reported the survey results in a virtual event.

The event transitioned online this year from its traditional luncheon due to pandemic concerns, according to organizers.

Several of the responses for how organizations dealt with hiring difficulties over the past year hit all-time highs in the survey. Providing overtime for existing skilled workers jumped to 56% from 40% last year, while 50% said they hired less qualified applicants. That’s an increase from 32% in 2020. Those who chose to not fill the job opening also reached a high this year at 49%.

“The year 2020 presented all kinds of challenges to the health and well-being of not only our community but our local economy,” Payne said, noting results of the survey could reflect overcoming some of the pandemic-related obstacles. “We know many of you – if not all of you – were forced into uncharted territory by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Springfield’s annual confidential survey provides data for the Job Center to assess needs of employers, while identifying issues and challenges in the workforce. It compiles responses from businesses, municipalities, educational institutions, health care organizations and nonprofits within the center’s seven-county Ozarks region. Its coverage area is Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk, Stone, Taney and Webster counties.

A total of 303 completed surveys were received this year, down nearly 25% from a year earlier. Job Center spokesperson Katherine Trombetta said officials thought the pandemic likely contributed to fewer responses this year. However, she noted survey administrator Opinion Research Specialists LLC still considered the total a valid sampling.