Ozarks employers are in hiring mode, but some are having trouble filling positions.
Results from the
third-annual regional workforce survey were released at the Momentum: State of the Workforce Luncheon on Feb. 15. Over 300 local workforce professionals attended the event hosted by the Ozark Region Workforce Development Board and Missouri Job Center, and survey respondents were from Greene, Taney, Christian, Webster, Polk, Dallas and Stone counties, according to a news release.
According to the survey, 45 percent of organizations plan to hire additional full-time employees over the next 12 months, up from the previous two survey years. Also, 55 percent of organizations plan to hire additional full-time employees during the next three to five years, up from 47 percent last year.
Getting those needed employees is a different story.
In this year’s survey, 72 percent of organizations reported difficulty filling positions over the past 12 months, up from 59 percent a year ago.
Springfield Public Schools Superintendent John Jungmann presented at the event, saying a solution to the problem of filling jobs involves schools and businesses working together to prepare students for careers in industries needing workers. Health care employers had the most difficulty filling jobs, at 85 percent of respondents, while nonprofits had the least difficulty, at 54 percent, according to the report.
“As an education system, SPS gets it; they understand they have to provide options to their students to ensure lifelong learning,” Springfield Director of Workforce Development Mary Ann Rojas said in the release. “More than half of the employers that participated in our survey plan to hire over the next three-five years; however, we still have work to do to better prepare our workforce. We are grateful we have the infrastructure and partnerships in place to enhance economic development efforts in our region."
Other survey highlights:
• More than 85 percent of respondents indicated that most or some of their current employees need improvement in the areas of time management, leadership, problem solving, critical and creative thinking, interpersonal relations, and work ethics/habits.
• Fifty-six percent of respondents rated area schools favorably in terms of providing students with the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in today’s workforce, down slightly from previous survey years.
• The occupational fields that organizations are most likely to emphasize in their hiring decisions over the next five to 10 years are business, management and administration followed by marketing, sales and service.
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