Springfield companies struggle to fill blue-collar jobs

The situation isn’t uncommon, as other companies also work to keep jobs filled. Paul Mueller President and CEO Matt Detelich said he isn’t worried, though others have voiced concern.

“There’s no question in the world that there’s a severe shortage,” said Peter Cockshaw, a Newton Square, Pa.-based construction analyst.

Cockshaw has given more than 500 speeches on labor relations in the construction industry and published a monthly newsletter about the subject 1971–2006.

Cockshaw said he recently spoke in Arizona to high-level executives from companies such as Procter & Gamble and Intel Corp. who said “they are alarmed” about construction worker shortages and might even shelve construction projects slated for 2009 and 2010.

Locally, 80 percent of respondents to a January survey by the Southwest Area Manufacturers Association said they plan to add jobs in the next year, but 73 percent said they were having trouble hiring qualified workers. The 50 respondents represent about a third of SAMA’s membership.

SAMA held a job fair May 14 in an effort to connect workers displaced by the recent closure of York Casket in Marshfield with companies that have jobs to fill. York had about 140 employees.

SAMA officials are also planning a job fair in August for soon-to-be-laid-off workers of Northrop Grumman Interconnect Technologies, 4811 W. Kearney St. The plant, which employs 265 people, is slated to close in August.

Ozarks Technical Community College started a truck-driving training program in February called Transportation Training Institute. The program, developed with financial help and encouragement from area trucking firms, is in its third cycle and the 10 students who have graduated have all found work, according to OTC spokesman Joel Doepker. Patti Penny, owner of Penmac Personnel Services, 447 South Ave., said her company usually has about 175 truck drivers on the job, and that’s not enough to meet demand. Penny said Springfield-based Penmac helps about 700 companies find workers through 47 offices in the Midwest, South and East. About 90 percent of the workers Penmac places are blue-collar.

Stable work

A couple of factors have contributed to the blue-collar shortage, according to Cockshaw. First, baby boomers are retiring and there aren’t enough people to replace them. Second, blue-collar work has developed a stigma as second-class over the last 30 years. Young people feel that the work is dirty and unstable, he said.

Stability is one of Paul Mueller Co.’s biggest selling points, however. The company has been around since 1940 and provides a way for people who like to work with their hands to spend their entire career in one place, according to Detelich. Blue-collar wages at Paul Mueller Co. average more than $17 per hour, not counting benefits, he said.

“It’s still honorable work,” Penny said.