ST. CLOUD — During a roundtable visit from Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove Thursday, St. Cloud area business owners and community representatives emphasized the importance of focusing on workforce challenges, child care access and youth engagement as the state continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Grove spoke with a handful of business and community leaders during an economic roundtable at the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation in downtown St. Cloud.
He told those gathered that in calls DEED employees make to those receiving unemployment benefits to check in on their work search, access to child care and housing issues are two barriers the state hears often.
Becky Waytashek, one owner of Love and Learn Childcare Academy in St. Cloud, said child care centers are facing their own struggles — particularly in finding teachers to staff her facility.
Waytashek said if she raises prices for parents, she can pay her staff more but parents will struggle with the cost of care. But without more income, she can’t pay teachers a good wage.
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“If you don’t have teachers, you don’t have a business,” she said.
Both Muhayadin Mohamed of the Islamic Center of St. Cloud and Kevin Johnson, CEO of K Johnson Construction in Sauk Rapids, said they want to see more support for young adults working to find jobs in the community.
“I would vote for investing in youth more,” Johnson said when asked by Grove what the state and DEED could do differently.
Grove also said he doesn’t believe the state spends enough money on younger generations, and acknowledged the importance of the worker pipeline.
“Our hope is that employers don’t overlook young people,” Grove said.
Struggles filling jobs, particularly entry-level jobs, continued to be a focal point of the conversation about employer challenges during the recovery. St. Cloud Area Chamber of Commerce President Teresa Bohnen said she’s particularly heard about it in the hospitality industry.
Joan Schatz, co-president at Waite Park-based manufacturing company Park Industries, said their no-show rate for interviews (people who set up interviews but don’t show up) is roughly 20% — and that’s better than what she hears from other employers.
Johnson said his human resources team started tracking the effort it takes to fill a position and, from a starting point of calling to set up an interview to the finishing point of someone showing up for their first day of work, it drops from 40 people (setting up interviews) to one person (starting work).
Schatz said Park Industries has also seen increased failures in drug testing since the pandemic began.
Though manufacturing has a history of a tight workforce from before the pandemic began, “it’s getting much worse than it was before,” she said.
However, she said she has no longer seen fears about contracting COVID-19 paly a role in people returning to work.
Schatz said after the meeting that she is “guardedly optimistic” about moves DEED and the state are making in implementing economic programs.
However, “I think they need to be perhaps more pinpointed toward the labor market specifically,” she said.
Sarah Kocher is the business reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-255-8799 or skocher@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahAKocher.
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