Northwest Arkansas employers see good years ahead in new jobs, investment

Northwest Arkansas employers are more optimistic than they've been in years, though finding enough people with the right skills remains a widespread concern, a new survey found.

Almost 500 Northwest Arkansas companies last year said they expect to hire a little more than 3,600 people and invest half a billion dollars in the next three years, according to the annual survey from the Northwest Arkansas Council, a nonprofit group working with businesses and public officials to foster healthy economic growth.

At a glance

2016 Regional Employer Survey

The survey’s 477 participants reported the following for the next three years:

• 3,621 expected new hires

• $503 million in planned investment

• 27 percent plan to expand

• Top community strengths include a positive business climate, stable economy and positive quality of life

• Top community weaknesses include the number of skilled workers and transportation shortfalls

Source: Northwest Arkansas Council

The expected hire figure is the most measured so far and about 500 more than employers reported in 2015.

"We have a very robust economy, and I think the confidence of our employers right now is strong," said Bill Rogers, vice president of communications and special projects at the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, one of five helping carry out the survey.

The jobs could come in manufacturing, retail, finance and food outfits and at businesses of all sizes; three-quarters of survey participants had 100 or fewer employees.

Rafael Rios, owner of the Yeyo's Mexican Grill food truck off of the Bentonville square, said he sees growth in his future. His 10-employee taco and salsa business is doing so well he's expanding into a brick-and-mortar location in the next few months. The move should triple his employees.

"The support of the community is there," he said, crediting the city's downtown association and farmers market with helping his business last four years so far. "Our whole story really begins here."

Rios added he'll likely need help finding people qualified for some of his new positions. Dozens of companies in the survey said they can't find enough skilled workers, part of a longstanding rallying cry among local officials, economists and business leaders caused by the metropolitan area's exceptionally low unemployment rate.

Less than 3 percent of the workforce was out of a job and looking in December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared to a national rate about two points higher.

"Our labor shortage in the construction industry is like I've never seen it in 30 years," said Bill Burckart, owner of Burckart Construction and a Bentonville alderman. "We have been lagging behind for the last several decades."

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But the concern has become less intense, the survey found. About half of the region's employers in production, distribution and related fields reported trouble with recruiting, down 15 percent from the year before, for example. The number reporting unfilled positions fell from one-fifth to one-tenth.

School districts, employers, chambers of commerce, Northwest Technical Institute and others have teamed to try to meet the region's needs, particularly in so-called middle-skill fields requiring some training and education after high school but don't need a bachelor's degree. Nearly all survey participants rated the area's workforce and education services as above average or better.

Springdale's chamber for two years has held a regional conference connecting employers with hundreds of high school students looking for well-paying jobs as nurses or carpenters or welders. Rogers, the chamber vice president, said the chamber is also contacting teachers and counselors to spread the word about those opportunities.

In Bentonville, Burckart is one of many employers taking part in the public schools' Ignite Professional Studies program sending interested students to potential employers for instruction. He said he expects the first interns to come in the next year or so, praising all of the groups who helped the program come about.

"We're doing a better job of understanding what our companies need, aligning our programs with that, and getting more kids interested in those occupations," said Mike Harvey, interim CEO of the council, adding while he sees a light at the end of the tunnel, there's still the matter of the tunnel. "It's obviously going to be a yearslong process."

The survey found many businesses expect some relief from "burdensome, one-size-fits-all regulations from the federal government" on health care, financial rules and environmental protections under the new presidential administration, though many of those changes remain up in the air.

The region's child care offerings were another concern; about two-thirds of respondents rated them above average or better, but the category was the lowest-rated among several community services and has gone down for several years.

Finding pre-kindergarten and after-school care are common difficulties, experts and parents have said. LaDonna Humphrey, who lives in Cave Springs but works at a software company in Fayetteville, said she's struggled to find after-school programs that have open spots and provide transportation from school for her youngest children, including a foster child.

Without an understanding employer who lets her leave early when needed, "I'd be forced to quit," Humphrey said. She and other parents have banded together to reach local officials and civic leaders, raise awareness of the issue and find grants for new childcare programs.

NW News on 03/11/2017

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