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"Commencing around 2006, the demand for workers will start to rapidly outstrip supply, potentially creating a labor shortage crisis by 2010," the report said. Labor shortages especially are expected in the health-care industry, it said.
It was the first such report prepared by the board, which forms strategies to address work force development issues in an eight-county area.
The board contracts with Workforce Connections Inc., which assists job-seekers and employers in the same counties — Buffalo, Crawford, Jackson, Juneau, La Crosse, Monroe, Trempealeau and Vernon. The report covers the same counties.
The board plans to issue such a report each year, said Beth Sullivan, Workforce Connections director of planning and marketing. She reviewed highlights of the 2003 report at a press conference Monday.
"To try to remain competitive, the business community needs to begin immediately to prepare for a lengthy era of unprecedented demand for workers that will in a few years begin to intensify in proportions never before experienced," said Shon Doyle, the board's chair.
"Not only will successful businesses need to become attractive and preferred places to work, but communities will need to become attractive and preferred places to live," Doyle told reporters.
"We hope it will be a planning tool for economic development agencies and chambers of commerce and other organizations, as they work to plan their work force development strategies," Sullivan said of the report.
Birth rates have been declining, Sullivan said. As baby boomers age and begin retiring, she said, "There will not be as many people coming in to replace the baby boomers who are exiting" the labor force.
Hispanics, Asians and other minority groups accounted for about 3 percent of the eight-county region's population in 1990. That figure grew to about 5 percent in 2000, Sullivan said. Employers will have to embrace diversity if they want to continue to grow, she said.
The region's per-capita income has been increasing and poverty has been decreasing, but its wages continue to lag behind state and national averages, Sullivan said. "This does raise a concern about the ability to attract and retain talent in the area," she said. Labor shortages likely will put upward pressure on wages, she said.
Although the number of manufacturing jobs in the region has decreased, that sector provides higher-paying jobs and still accounted for 19 percent of all jobs in Western Wisconsin in 2001, Sullivan said. "We are saying that steps should be taken to retain and grow these industries," she said.
The health-care industry is a major employer in the region and will continue to grow as the population ages, Sullivan said.
"One of the concerns is the average age of the nurses is increasing," she said. In the La Crosse area, she said, "Seventy-five percent are over the age of 36. And 41 percent are over the age of 46. So not only will the demand for nurses go up as the population ages, but there will be an exodus of nurses from that sector as the nurses themselves get older. So we need to attract younger people into the field."
Sullivan said communities in the region must work to attract and retain workers.
"Employers will need to look at flexible working schedules, workplace accommodations for those with disabilities, and not only acceptance but embracement of the diversity that is showing up in our population," she said. "And they need other creative approaches to retain their work force."
Steve Cahalan can be reached at (608) 791-8229 or scahalan@ lacrossetribune.com.
