GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ)- Help Wanted signs are being seen more and more outside of businesses in the Green Bay Area, and one expert says they may be there for awhile.
“Everyday, ten thousand people in the United States turn 65.”
Jim Golembeski, Executive Director of the Bay Area Workforce Development board, says workforce in the Green Bay area is hitting a turning point with the retirements of employees from the baby boomer generation.
“But how do we replace the legecy knowledge?” That is the question that employers are trying to figure out.
He says what we are seeing now has been forecasted for years.
“The baby boomers are retiring, and taking a lot of job skills with them.”
He says one part of reversing it, Wisconsin businesses will have to pull people in from other states due to its low birthrate.
“It is vital that Wisconsin attracts talent from outside the state, he said. Our birthrate here in the state is not going to meet the needs that we need.
Golembeski added that it often takes two or more to perform the tasks that one retired baby boomer employee was able to do, but some of those jobs are being replaced with technology.
“Advancement in technolgy is making an impact in some ways.”
Golembeski says jobs in Agriculture and Tourism will always need manual labor to do the job.
While it is not all bad news, it something that Golembeski says he is watching closely.”
