$50k/year and no takers: the rural workforce shortage

Rural areas with sparse population, like western Oklahoma and Kansas, are up against a brick wall that is a workforce shortage.

G.L. Hoffman has the story of his cousin Craig, offering $50,000 a year, health care, and home, for farm workers. No takers. Too far out in the country. Too much hard work. Too little urban-style recreation.

Our local health care industry is looking for more ways to grow our own workforce, reaching down to eighth grade to start.

Demographics are not in our favor. Our rural towns are aging out, and quickly.

What might save us? Generation Y. Highly entrepreneurial. Extremely engaged. Make sure you and your community are reaching out to get them engaged with you. Because you don't want to end up with no takers.

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Posted by Becky McCray on Saturday, May 31, 2008
Categories: , , ,

13 comments:

  1. Becky -

    Where are they advertising?

    If they are advertising within their town or community the takers may be limited.

    Home and health included? That is unheard of these days.... hence why I am thinking the issue is advertising rather than "supply"
    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, Marco. Housing included is not all that uncommon for farming jobs in our area. Health care included is a different story, a little more rare.

    One huge factor we didn't talk about in the story is the oil field. Right now, our area is in the middle of an absolute boom in oil and gas. Every available worker is being sucked into that industry.

    I can't answer for where this particular job has been advertised. But getting folks to relocate here is tough. When I talk with people from cities, they frequently like the sound of living in the country, but seldom are they willing to actually do it.

    It's not unusual to have just a few or even only one applicant for a job opening. I'll bet that seems odd, but it is true.
    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow. That is a mighty nice offer... But yes, where are they advertising?

    I know a lot of folks in this economy may just want to pick up and go somewhere small and tucked away to do an honest day's work.

    And I'm sorry, but free housing and over 40k (forget the potential 80k, the minimum sounds good about now) and you sort of forget about the fact that some may spend more in gas.

    Where do I send my resume?!
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  4. Troy, the cost of gas is another important factor holding folks back from moving out to the country. Everything out here is a drive.

    Anyone interested in this particular job should check G. L. Hoffman's Help Wanted post.

    One other point I'd like to make. This article is not about this one job. It is about our entire rural economy being squeezed by a very small and shrinking labor pool. Even if you explain away this one example as poor advertising, we're left with critical labor shortages in health care, education, services, and especially lower paid services.
    ReplyDelete
  6. Becky,

    You're all over it. It's tough for remote communities to compete for skilled workers. Without 'em they can't create a diverse community. And they won't come because there's no community offerings.

    And employers are left having to raise salaries to compensate. That makes it even tougher then for them to compete.

    The only resource then are the existing community members. There's the source for the passion and drive. Easy for me to say: I live/work in a booming metro area of almost 10,000 and that's 11,000 for the whole county, I think.
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  7. Zane, I'm tellin ya, I feel a rant coming on...
    ReplyDelete
  8. This sounds like a recipe for all those folks who got foreclosed on.
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  9. Chris, it does sound like a good opportunity for a fresh start, doesn't it? The work is hard, and the adjustment is difficult. But for the right person, a move to a rural area could be a very positive thing.
    ReplyDelete
  10. Becky -

    I think there are two subjects here.

    1. The fact that it's hard for rural small biz owners to get good help.

    2. The fact that there is an 80K job out there with full benefits, housing -*AND*- almost all the steak you can eat

    ---

    About #1 I fully agree.

    About #2, I think the issue is still about proper advertising. Why - let's look at today's (6/6/08) Reuters headline "Jobless rate hits 3-1/2-year high in May". I bet you there are some people who would consider this a great "get back on the saddle" opportunity. Menaing, get the job, work it a couple years to rake in some $$, and then get back to the prior non-rural undertakings.

    How do you reach them?

    1. Through the blogosphere
    2. Targeted ads
    3. Word of mouth
    ReplyDelete
  11. Marco, I can say that G.L.'s cousin asked him to publicize it. He has, I have, and now Chris Penn has. This must be one of the better publicized job openings ever in Kansas! And hopefully, this will encourage more people to consider looking further afield for opportunities. Thanks for the follow-up thoughts!
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  12. Hi Becky, thanks for all the insight. Could you elaborate on those oil industry jobs you mention above? Any pointers? I already googled that but found nothing specific. Thanks in advance...
    ReplyDelete
  13. Adiel, oil industry jobs in our area include truck drivers, mechanics, maintenance workers, all sorts of oil and gas drilling positions, and then all types of management and office support positions. It's a broad industry. The key thing is that it is geographically limited. Ft. Worth is a hot area, western Oklahoma and Texas, and I'm sure, many other areas. Our largest local employer in the industry is Chesapeake Energy.
    ReplyDelete

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