Where Did All The Workers Go?
Chamber of Commerce Executives of Ohio – CCEO
ChamberCon Winter Conference
February 23-24, 2023
Roughly 90 of my colleagues from across Ohio attended.
Where Did All The Workers Go?
The session was conducted by the following:
- John Trott - Executive Director, Ohio Workforce Board
- Christine Marshall – Summit/Medina County Workforce Area
The labor shortage is not benefit related, it is not going away any time soon
There are 2 ways of identifying a workforce:
- Current Population – unemployed & those out of the workforce
- Immigrants
Since the……
- 1950’s - men have been declining in the workforce, prime age women has been increasing
- 1960’s – the World has had a declining population, no country is replacing their workforce pipeline; each couple needs 2.1 children to create more workers
- 1970’s – prime age men has been declining
- 2020 – women left the workforce due to closure of schools & daycare
Christine Marshall and her team surveyed 800 individuals in 3 counties; Summit, Medina, Portage
Their findings are below:
- Part-Time work may work best for people
- First Line Supervisors or boss was cause of 12% to leave the workforce
- Additional training is needed to keep employees
- Salary information need to be posting in job posting
- 30% of respondents changed their work situation – this number is astounding!
- Many quit their jobs and opened their own business – entrepreneurship
- People are moving between jobs
- Flexible schedules are important to people
- Gen Z wants mental health coverage
Some basic solutions –
- Have flexible work environments
- Creative work environments
- Make recruitment process simpler & easier
- Look at skill level, stress level, schedule
- Let workers grow into jobs through targeted training
- Recruit H.S. students
- Work to retain your employees
- Conduct Stay Interviews with employees – “what do you want?”
Should you want to continue the conversation, feel free to reach out – rick@thechamberofcommerce.org
