Can We Still Do it?
Everyone acknowledges that the job market of Southern Illinois is depressed. It is quantifiable. Employment want-ads are sparse in the print version of the regional newspaper, the Southern Illinoisan, but greater in number (189) in the online version. Large internet job boards such as Monster.com list only about 400 for the entire region, but no where near the variety and diversity found in metropolitan regions.
What is perplexing to understand is how long it seems to take to fill some of the advertised jobs. 25% of the available job listing on Monster.com are more than 5 weeks old. Some jobs on the Southern Illinoisan site are even older. For example, the Southern Illinoisan has been advertising for the same seven internal staff positions since early November 2006 – about 100 days! What gives? Don't tell me they can't find a qualified candidates? Or is it that no one wants to live and prosper in the region? Could it be that the wages offered locally are too low to attract qualified talent? Could it be that the thousands of graduates SIU turns out every year don't meet Lee Enterprises high standards? Or, maybe, its just a way to fill space in the newspaper...
The region suffers from periodic waves of significant job layoffs. First to go were coal mine jobs. Then went the manufacturing jobs. Look at the recent Whirlpool/Maytag and TUMS plant closures. Jobs are moving out of state and out of the country. Man-Tra-Con's response is to offer dislocated worker skill retraining. Is that enough?
In 1990 the Office of Economic and Regional Development at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale issued a report profiling the job market of the southernmost 20 Illinois counties. Read their conclusions and try to discern what has changed in the intervening 26 years of politicians trying to fix the problems.
- Skilled labor is the biggest problem for local industry.
- Sluggish population growth, which limits both the size of the work force and local markets, is reducing regional opportunities.
- Job development is mostly government-sponsored: prisons and work camps, community colleges and SIU.
- Educational attainment in the region is below state and national averages.
- Per capita income is not providing jobs and wages on a par with the U.S. average. “None of the counties had average incomes equal to the U.S. average; over half had average per capita incomes less than 80 percent of the U.S. average; and five counties were at or below 60 percent. Because income expectations are an important factor in choosing a location to live and work it is probable that southern Illinois has lost wage earners and new entrants to the labor force based on low income expectations."
If you were an elected official what would be your ultimate answer to insufficient jobs, low wages, sub-par education levels: technology, cheaper education, better infrastructure, lower taxes, or what?
2 comments:
Hey Bob,
Lemme see if I can throw my two-cents in. My experience with trying to get a job in Southern Illinois is as follows, but I want to keep some things vague about myself because I've met a lot of employers around here and I'm sure they could easily figure out who I am -- I want to keep my options open while still trying to give you an honest answer.
I'm recent college graduate at a Big 10 school. I've had plenty of internships, seminars and lots of experience ... probably more so than any other college student in my position. I came back to Southern Illinois because it was a great place while I was growing up and I wanted to be close to home. I believe Southern Illinois is one of the most unique places I lived -- the combination of outdoors, sportsmanship and sense of community plus the beautiful landscape of the Shawnee National Forest, is wonderful. I applied originally for several positions around the community that I was interested, some of those you note have been listed for a long time but can't seem to get filled.
In all my experiences around here, the employers were some of the strangest people I've met. Just devoid of any real personality and seemed to be judging me as I interviewed with them. It was a series of uncomfortable situations to say the least, and not one I had experienced in places I've worked in: NYC, Philadelphia, D.C. and across the east-coast for the government.
After trying for two months to get some sort of work, just something that would pay the bills until I got the job I wanted, I was started to get depressed and was thinking of moving to Chicago and stay with some family up there while looking for work.
I lucked out one day when I was explaining my situation to a total stranger I met, she recommended I try a place to work so I followed up the tip. Sure enough, I was called in for an interview the next day and the very next day I started working. It was an area in my job description that I could work at, but hadn't considered before because I wasn't specifically trained for it. As it turns out, this is an excellent place for this job and has a tremendous amount of advancement possibilities. Basically, I love my job. My boss, who of course interviewed me, was very personable and resembled a lot of the people I've worked with in other sectors, in other places.
He's been very patient with me as I learn my new skills and has been a great mentor thus far. I couldn't be happier that I met him and I'm working with the people I am now. Everyday is a new challenge in a community I love being in.
What I've learned is this: employment is a two way street. Employers have to be willing to employee people and need to be a little smarter in their practices. One of those positions you named as having a lot of vacancies jerked my chain quite a bit, and it left a bad taste in my mouth. They wouldn't return phone calls or emails. They were constantly in meetings or too busy to meet with me when I'd come by the office -- and lets just say they are the fourth boss of the place in the last three years.
It seems to me that there isn't so much as a lack of talented employees to work in Southern Illinois as much as there is a lack of talented employers. All the good ones are being sucked into bigger markets -- Chicago, NYC or just larger communities that don't have so many of the same poor policies as are common with Southern Illinois community governments. I've staked my ground here, I love it and I live it. But it bothers me that there seems to be a brain drain here ... it seems as though as soon as you plug one leak, another one sprouts somewhere else.
I'd like to amend my last comment. One of the things I learned in economics is called the "vicious cycle of poverty."
In this situation it would be described as: no good employers because no good employees. No good employees because there are no good employers. The government has stepped in and offered jobs with stability ... I tend to shy away from programs like that, but I don't see any particularly large amount of private businesses leading the pack on that one -- they've got their own set of problems to worry about and are going to go where the qualified employees are.
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