Published 1/20/2016
ATD Lincoln formed the Knowledge Management Council (KMC) in response to a perception of business managers that it was becoming difficult to find enough employees with the necessary skills and experience to fill local job vacancies. Over the past two years, the Committee became a partnership bringing together community programs, government agencies, institutions of higher education, and community supporters.
This report summarizes what the KMC has learned regarding the requirements of businesses for employees, the skills and experience of the Lincoln workforce, and community resources available for worker training. The information presented in this report comes from three sources, the KMC- inspired Make it Work for Lincoln survey of businesses, the Nebraska Department of Economic Development and Nebraska Department of Labor Lincoln Metro Area Labor Availability Study, and the Community Funding Sources report for worker training.
The Committee discovered during the fall of 2013 that the Nebraska Department of Economic Development had partnered with the Nebraska Department of Labor and funded a pilot Labor Availability study for Northeast Nebraska, and had planned to go forward with a second study in the metropolitan Lincoln and Omaha areas. While the results of this study promised to provide detailed information regarding the skills and experience of the workforce in the Lincoln area, the Committee believed that a similar survey of Lincoln businesses would provide valuable information regarding the experiences and perceptions of businesses as they made hiring and training decisions, and decisions regarding the future expansion of their businesses. With the support of ATD Lincoln and the KMC, the Department of Economic Development contracted with the Department of Labor and the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Bureau of Business Research to survey businesses in the Lincoln metropolitan area. The state agencies believed, along with the KMC, that not only would the survey provide valuable information regarding business experience with the local labor market, but combined with the Labor Availability study, the business survey could provide a description of skills gaps in the Lincoln area, that could be used by training and educational institutions to identify opportunities for narrowing any gaps that were discovered. This report also summarizes recommendations for addressing the skills gap in Lincoln.
Labor availability is a critical issue for any regional economy. Economic development in any area is impacted by the supply of available workers with the necessary knowledge, skills, and work-habits. As the survey of Lincoln businesses shows, roughly two-thirds of Lincoln businesses reported some concerns about finding enough hard-to-hire skills to meet their needs. While less than one in five businesses reported enough difficulty hiring to stop or delay potential plans for expansion in Lincoln.
The Metro Area Labor Availability Study, which includes Lincoln, surveyed12,000 households gathering information on the skills of Lincoln area employees and barriers underemployed individuals faced in finding a new job. The 3,336 responding households reported that a lack of job opportunities, poor wage and benefit levels and overqualified for available jobs were a barrier to changing jobs or entering the labor force.
The Make it Work for Lincoln survey of 1,350 employers with 20 or more employees examined the occupations which employers are hiring for, the difficulties employers face in hiring and the types of training provided to new hires. The 248 responding employers reported a broad set of challenges in hiring including candidates with a lack of work experience, a lack of occupation-specific skills, and a poor work history.
Taken together, these issues represent a wide array of challenges in hiring. However, a careful look at these issues by industry and occupation reveal patterns and priorities. Key barriers often vary by occupation and employers and households often agreed on the nature of the problem. This granularity yielded focused challenges and actionable solutions in individual occupations.
For example, businesses reported that a lack of occupation specific skill was a particular concern for computer occupations, manufacturing production occupations, and installation, maintenance and repair workers. Potential employees in these occupations frequently reported in the household survey that lack of education and training were obstacles in changing jobs or reentering the workforce. The exception was workers in computer occupations.
These results suggest opportunities for expanding training programs targeted at these occupations and opportunities for learning on the job, in some cases through formal apprenticeship programs.
Poor work history and failed background checks were a primary concern for employers looking for health care support workers, food preparation workers, construction occupations and transportation and material moving occupations. This raises another critical issue in labor supply. The supply of hire- able workers could grow if these workers are able to improve their work history.
This is a substantial challenge, given it can be difficult to identify workers with the greatest potential to improve on a poor work history. Further, workers responding to the household survey do not perceive the shortcomings that employers have mentioned. Fewer than 10 percent of workers in these occupations view employment history as an obstacle to changing jobs and reentering the workforce.
Wage rates appear to be a barrier to hiring in a third set of occupations; in particular business and professional occupations, healthcare practitioners and technical workers, personal care and service occupations and office and administrative support occupations. In these occupations, an elevated share of employers indicated that workers made wage demands which were “too high.” At the same time, employees reported that inadequate pay was a barrier to new employment. In these occupations, employees, employers, or both may need to adjust their wage expectations. Supply and demand conditions provide insight as to whether employers or workers need to adjust most. Supply and demand analysis suggests that there is limited pressure for employers to raise wage scales for business and professional operations workers and office and administrative support workers.
To read the full Make it Work for Lincoln report, click here.