Why Young Workers Leave St. Cloud And What Might Bring Them Back

The St. Cloud area is overcoming workforce challenges. Gail Cruikshank, Talent and Community Impact Director at Greater St. Cloud joined me on WJON for our monthly, Get a Job segment.

Workforce Challenges

Mid-size communities, like St. Cloud, tend to face a fairly consistent set of workforce challenges. Cruikshank says those challenges include population and talent drain, a mismatch of skills, childcare availability and cost, housing affordability and availability, employer perception and awareness gaps, an aging workforce and succession/retirement waves and wraparound and job quality issues.

Young People Leaving for Larger Metro Areas

Cruikshank says younger workers often leave for larger metros after high school or college because of higher wages, more career variety and social or cultural amenities. She believes this leaves a lagging behind labor pool and can be painful for employers looking to fill technical positions. Cruikshank says the perception is that these young people want to leave for larger metro areas but she believes these individuals would like to stay in the St. Cloud area if employers can meet their needs.

Preparing for Careers

Cruikshank believes St. Cloud has done a good job preparing young people for careers with programs like EPIC, First Career Connection, employer engagement with tours, speaking in classrooms and job shadows. Greater St. Cloud is kicking off a Boomerang campaign to promote alumni to return to the area. Cruikshank says employers have struggled to find candidates to fill specific jobs requiring technical skills.

Childcare Costs

Childcare availability and cost is a challenge throughout the country. Cruikshank says mid-size communities often have less childcare availability but she believes local employers understand this and are working to accommodate parents with young children.

Housing

Housing availability and affordable housing is a problem throughout the country. Cruikshank says plenty is being done in St. Cloud to help expand housing options which will likely improve affordability. She says older people are staying in their home longer, which leads to less, single family homes on the market.

Employer Perception and An Aging Workforce

There can be an image problem in certain industries like in the trades and manufacturing. Cruikshank says these are highly skills, well paying jobs. She says these industries and others could also be fighting the aging of the workforce. Baby boomers are large part of the population and many of them have either retired or will soon. She says filling those positions will local is important to St. Cloud area employers.