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Employer Quotes
The quotes below are from employers in this industry: Manufacturing
They are talking about this topic: Workforce Trends & Challenges
The quotes below are about this issue:
Location is a continuing challenge for rural employers who face not only a declining labor supply, but also the challenge of competing with the salaries offered in metro areas.
| "Most of those workers out there, I think they're working two or three weeks, and then they get a week off and they come home. And there are guys that are going from Texas up there, and then going home on weekends." | Northwest |
| "I wonder if others feel the same way, especially in this region. When I see some of the data about openings and things like that, I tend to think we're more competing with that central Saint Cloud area more than way up north. So, I think that tends to skew our region a little bit. Because there's kind of that big gap in between." | Northwest |
| "All of our hires right now seem to be—there's definitely more of a majority that we're pulling external. We've saturated our market, but with orientations and stuff it seems that there are more and more coming from outside the area." | Northwest |
| "It's tough because when you show a regional map—I can't tell you how many times I sat in a meeting in the Twin Cities and said, 'Fergus Falls is not in northern Minnesota.' And I think that is really the key—when you look at where our colleges are serving and where they actually sit as opposed to where we recruit to. We have to do a better job of getting into those colleges and saying, 'Hey, guess what we're up to?' But, at the same time, I think there needs to be a connection there. Recruiting from four hours away is a challenge. So, that is the other piece, just how we connect with the distances." | Northwest |
| "A lot of us are in very remote, rural areas, so that is the difference that we're seeing in terms of supply and demand. Because on a local level, we need people and we can't fill these spots." | Northwest |
| "When we have people in college—and I think this would even go into high school—sometimes it's difficult for them to even get to your facility to see it. There was talk of loading up a bus and bringing them to the facility for a tour, but the distance up here is a real factor. You can have all the employment opportunities, but if they think you're too far away—or they actually don't even know how to get to the factory—that's a problem. People are busy working a part-time job trying to feed themselves and whatever, so how do we get them into our places and let them know that there are jobs for them? How do we communicate that there are places to live and all that stuff, too?" | Northwest |
| "Just getting people to know where we're located and what the location has to offer is huge for us because—to even get them here to see the plant and the area is—that's the biggest hurdle. They're interested in the jobs, but recognizing where we are and what we have to offer is big, too." | Northwest |
| "We had a couple folks come up to visit with us, and a big concern is housing. They want to know if housing is available. So, if we're trying to attract people to Thief River Falls and some of the other places, we definitely have to have the housing available to attract people." | Northwest |