Employment quality, quantity threaten positive economy

A group of local experts in various industries shared those thoughts Sept. 27 during the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce’s third annual Economic Outlook Conference, dubbed New Challenges, New Opportunities. Springfield Business Development Corp., a chamber subsidiary, and the city of Springfield presented the conference, held at University Plaza.

Four experts participated in a panel discussion: Jim Batten, treasurer of O’Reilly Auto Parts; Virginia Fry, managing partner for the Springfield office of Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin LLP; Michael Nietzel, president of Missouri State University; and Jack Stack, president and CEO of SRC Holdings Corp. and Springfield Remanufacturing Corp.

Challenges

While the panelists were generally optimistic and upbeat about the state of their various sectors, all four also pointed to a potential wrench in the works.

Employment issues are ahead, they said, specifically replacing baby boomers entering retirement.

“We have to solve this looming crisis of people leaving the work force,” Stack said, citing a statistic that 33 percent of workers nationally would be retiring during the next five years. “People leave the work force, go into retirement, Medicaid, Medicare. We have to figure out how to have a stable work force to withstand the impact of social programs, and if somebody doesn’t figure that our pretty quickly we, as a country, will get completely absorbed in the social costs.”

Fry agreed, adding that competition between the various companies in the area for qualified new workers adds to the challenge.

“We all want the best and the brightest for what we do, whether it’s making a boat motor or selling auto parts or opening a center for nanotechnology,” she said. “And it’s really hard to compete for those people.”

Conference attendee Ann Marie Baker, president of UMB Bank, said the issue is one she has dealt with as well.

“(The problem) has been at a higher level in the last five or six years, and it’s only going to get harder,” she said. “And everyone wants the best; … nobody wants the leftovers.”

Opportunities

The region does have some key advantages over other parts of the country.

One is the Ozarks’ work ethic – which Fry said she has seen firsthand in her company, which is based in Kansas City and has offices in several states.

“Our (Springfield) office always leads the pack in terms of time spent,” she said. “We’ve got a lot of people here fresh off the farm, and for those of you who grew up on a farm, you know what that means. We can still draw upon a supply of youth that understands what hard work is all about.”

Also, that same baby boomer population that is creating labor issues plays into several of the area’s key strengths, according to Peter Ricchiuti, the conference’s keynote speaker.

Ricchiuti, assistant dean at the Freeman School of Business at Tulane University, pointed to three areas of strength: financial services, notably banking and trust management; health care; and leisure activities.

“In leisure, you think of this whole area, including Branson and the surrounding counties, you are really in a sweet spot for the next 20 years,” Ricchiuti said. “The only mistake you could make would be to not be ready for it or to not think it’s going to be as big as it is.”

Another positive: quality of life, which chamber President Jim Anderson said allows Springfield to compete with other areas for workers and businesses.

“We have the amenities of a metropolitan area, but we still have a small-town charm and flavor,” Anderson said. “That’s a very delicate balance, and it’s one we work very hard at.”[[In-content Ad]]