GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Spring and summer are often times where people are looking to get into the workforce, but this year is still looking a little different than usual.
“I think it’s a little early to tell for sure if this year is going to be statistically or significantly different compared to past years,” said Bay Area Workforce Development Board Executive Director Matt Valiquette. “We expect to see an increase this time of the year of folks that are either completing their schooling at the post secondary level, or for whatever other reasons, are are looking to re-enter the workforce.”
Right now, there appears to be a bit of a reluctance by some people to return to the workforce. That’s a concerning trend for Valiquette and employers around the area.
“Purely in terms of dollar signs, $370 a week of unemployment insurance compensation with an additional $300 of pandemic supplement, that’s a significant amount of money for a lot of folks,” Valiquette said. “It’s a disincentive…It’s really has resulted in exacerbating some of the challenges that our local employers have experienced in finding talent to meet the workforce needs.”
Economic driver industries in Northeast Wisconsin, such as advanced manufacturing, healthcare, construction, information technology, and transportation logistics, are all looking for help.
“Each one of those industries have hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of job openings. This is meaningful employment, paying family sustaining wages,” Valiquette told WTAQ News. “We simply do not have the sufficient numbers of the people at the current point that are available or interested to pursue those opportunities.”
But Valiquette is optimistic that there will be an appreciable increase in people returning to the workforce over the course of the next three months or so. He says we’ll have a much better idea of how those openings will be filled once the people who currently don’t have to look for work are once again required to fill out applications.
“We’re going to likely see the requirement to look for work return here shortly, and we’re also going to see if some of that pandemic relief supplemental income also end, which will then in all likelihood lead to an increase in folks looking for work here in the next couple of months,” Valiquette said.
Many of those driver industries also require a certain skillset, and Valiquette says the lack of applications is due to a deficiency of people with those particular skills. The Workforce Development Board provides tuition assistance and supportive services for those looking to improve current conditions or re-enter workforce, increase diploma to boost employability and earnings potential.
“We set aside nearly $1 million a year just for folks interested in pursuing and furthering their education at the post secondary level. In some of those driver industries, we’re not even coming close to spending the amount of money we’ve allocated,” Valiquette said.
To learn more about the Bay Area Workforce Development Board and the programs they offer, head to their website.
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