Region struggles with workforce shortage

LACONIA — A spreadsheet appeared when Andrew Coulombe plugged a computer into a gleaming Lexus in the automotive building at Lakes Region Community College.

“That’s all of your monitors right there, every single sensor in the car,” he said.

“That tells you the problem. Once you’ve diagnosed it, you get in with your tools to repair it.”

The 18-year-old student moved here from Maine to work on a two-year degree in automotive technology. A Toyota dealership is sponsoring him, and a good-paying job will be waiting for him at the end of the line.

He’ll likely earn $40,000 a year fresh out of school, but has the potential of making more than $100,000 once he is experienced in the field.

With a payoff like that after two years at a community college, one might think students would be banging down the door to get into the program, but there is capacity for additional students.

Program coordinator Jamie Decato, who gave U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen a tour yesterday as part of a summit on workforce development, said the school faces the same challenges as many employers in the region.

“Like everybody else, the problem is finding the right people for the positions that are out there, not just butts for the seats,” Decato said.

Larissa Baia, interim president of the college, said that, to be successful in the program, students have to be motivated and have some skills in math and communication.

“It’s a rigorous program for sure and the expectations are high,” she said. “You have to have a passion for this. It is hard work.”

Automotive companies donate the vehicles that are worked on and some of the expensive equipment students use. The companies partner with the college to ensure a good supply of new mechanics.

Skills required

Shaheen said New Hampshire workers often don’t have the specialized skills required for today’s jobs.

“Every business that I’ve been to in the last two years has said their No. 1 challenge is finding enough skilled workers,” she said.

“One of the big challenges we have in New Hampshire is that a lot of our young people are going out of state and they’re not coming back. They go out for college. They go out for a job, and they’re not coming back.

“We’re facing a situation where, in a couple of years, we’re going to be creating more jobs than we have people for.”

Another problem, particularly in the Lakes Region, is getting an adequate supply of seasonal workers from foreign countries. There has been a dramatic decrease in the number of visas that are being allowed, Shaheen said.

Key Partnerships

Dr. Ross Gittell, chancellor of the state’s community college system, said partnerships like the one between automobile manufactures and college technology programs are a key to expanding a skilled workforce in a state with an aging population and an unemployment rate of 2.6 percent, second-lowest in the nation behind Hawaii.

Those partnerships provide the information needed for skills to be taught effectively.

“New Hampshire Ball Bearings knows more about the future of advanced manufacturing than I do, than our college president, than our faculty,” he said.

Gittell also said New Hampshire needs to ensure its workforce keeps pace with changes in the economy.

“We know the economy is changing because of the increased application of technology,” he said. “Look at Amazon and what that is going to be doing to our retail sector. Here in New Hampshire, we have the highest concentration of retail jobs in the nation.”

Just Thursday, the state learned that it would be losing 500 retail jobs with the demise of the Toys ‘R’ Us chain.

Housing for workers

Carmen Lorentz, executive director at Lakes Region Community Developers, said one factor in ensuring a strong workforce is affordable housing.

“We have a big problem,” she said. “Once people do start to look at moving here, housing is a big issue.”

It’s hard to find affordable, newer, single-family homes in the region.

Her organization helps develop affordable multifamily rental housing, which is also important to maintain an adequate workforce.

 “I get a lot of cringes when people ask me what I do,” she said, “They say, ‘Oh, what is it, subsidized housing?’ Like it’s a really gross thing. I push back a little bit. I say, ‘Hey, we provide housing for people who work for 125 different employers in this region. Most of the people living in our apartments are working, one or more jobs.”

Millennial work habits

Dr. Melissa Kennell, a dentist who has opened three practices, said that while there was much talk at the summit about instilling proper skills in young people to staff jobs of the future, there wasn’t much talk about work habits, or the lack thereof, with some new workers.

“One thing that nobody’s brought up today, which I feel is an issue, is millennials. I have girls that come in, they are young, and they don’t want to work hard,” she said.

“And this is a real issue. They want to be paid a lot and they don’t want to travel and they don’t want to work hard. With my younger girls, it is always something.”

She said she’s had a number of employees leave and then try to get their old jobs back.

“It’s nice to talk about jobs, and getting these kids in school and getting them out, but they have to want to work, too.

“It’s a big struggle for us. They are still living with parents at 26 or 29.”