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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.
| "The level of skill that we need is comparable to what machinists who work in the medical device industry need. And we can't compete with wages in the metro area." | Southwest |
| "Part of it is because of the [lack of] availability of labor in southwest Minnesota. I mean, we just don't have the numbers to keep throwing people at the labor. It's cheaper eventually just to move to robotics." | Southwest |
| "We heard that also in Brainerd—they can't find production people to stand on the lines and do these kinds of things. And when they do get them, they don't last very long. So, to the extent they can automate, they're doing that. But you can't automate everything." | Southwest |
| "I go all over the United States. I've flown a couple of people in for interviews. I'll do whatever I need to do to find them. But I've got to have them." | Southwest |
| "I've been thinking about our conversation here, and there are a couple of things I want to put on the table. Those of us who've lived in southwest Minnesota for many years, we need to recognize something: We are de-populating at a rapid rate. I'm a marketer by profession, and you can run from demographics, but you can't hide. And the idea that came to my mind as I listened to all this is that we're going to build some sort of apprentice system—from the high school to the technical school to the four-year school system. We're going to have to find a way to entice people to come into this type of profession if we're going to be able to maintain viable businesses in southwest Minnesota. We're talking about being terrified about losing so many employees to retirement. I don't know where the next five production workers are going to come from, quite frankly. So, we're going to have to find a way. I think some of the other employers that are here today are experienced with the engineering graduates from [MnSCU college]. These young engineers came into our midst, and they learned what it like to be in this plant, and we learned from them, too, because they had advanced degrees. So, that type of environment is helpful, but I don't know how we're going to do that. Here in southwest Minnesota, I don't how else we're going to do it because people aren't coming here to live." | Southwest |