Northwest Arkansas businesses voice optimism, see old problems linger

Westside Eagle Observer/RANDY MOLL B lake Robertson, president of Northwest Technical Institute, shakes hands with Terrie Metz, superintendent of the Gentry School District, on Jan. 31 after signing an agreement to offer college credit to graduating Gentry High School students who complete the course of study offered at the school in medium- and heavy-duty truck maintenance and repair. Standing behind Robertson and Metz were Christie Toland, assistant superintendent of Gentry schools; Carl Desens, NTI instructor and department chair; Brae Harper, principal of Gentry High School Conversion Charter; and Tyson Sontag, instructor for the Gentry diesel mechanic courses taught in the new Gentry Career Education Center.
Westside Eagle Observer/RANDY MOLL B lake Robertson, president of Northwest Technical Institute, shakes hands with Terrie Metz, superintendent of the Gentry School District, on Jan. 31 after signing an agreement to offer college credit to graduating Gentry High School students who complete the course of study offered at the school in medium- and heavy-duty truck maintenance and repair. Standing behind Robertson and Metz were Christie Toland, assistant superintendent of Gentry schools; Carl Desens, NTI instructor and department chair; Brae Harper, principal of Gentry High School Conversion Charter; and Tyson Sontag, instructor for the Gentry diesel mechanic courses taught in the new Gentry Career Education Center.

Northwest Arkansas businesses plan thousands of hires and hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in the next few years, according to a Northwest Arkansas Council report out Monday.

The nonprofit group released its annual survey of almost 500 businesses that found about one in five expect to expand by the end of 2020. Survey participants gave high marks to the Northwest Arkansas business climate and education system and as a whole said they plan to bring on about 2,500 new positions and invest about $750 million in the coming three years.

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More information about the Northwest Arkansas Council, including its latest business survey, can be found at nwacouncil.org.

Businesses also reported it was somewhat easier to find employees with the needed skills for open jobs, suggesting workforce training programs in public schools and elsewhere are making a dent in a long-running need, said Mike Harvey, council chief operating officer.

"It's not like, hey, sunny days are here -- we've got a ton of work to do, but our hopes are we are starting to have some impact," Harvey said Monday. "There's a lot of layers to this onion."

The survey isn't a scientific poll and doesn't necessarily capture what all of the thousands of companies in Northwest Arkansas are experiencing, but it does give a snapshot of what a variety of area business owners thought in 2017, Harvey said. Participants, which go unnamed, mostly employed fewer than 100 people but included several employing more than 1,000.

The report also gives an idea of how business perceptions change over time, with data going back to 2012 and a relatively stable group of businesses involved, Harvey said.

In this case, the businesses in 2017 were less optimistic in some ways than in 2016, planning fewer short-term hires and mostly expecting no beneficial changes in government regulations. Many rated local public transportation as "average" or worse, touching on an old wish and complaint throughout Northwest Arkansas.

Businesses still saw the region as a good place to be, thanks to a stable community and economy, its location and other factors.

Margaret Burris of Farmington opened her own small business, Rymolene's Pies, in west Fayetteville in January after years of baking out of her home for restaurants. People in and around Fayetteville value their mom-and-pop stores and give them a starting chance, she said. The baked goods have been selling at a healthy pace by the slice solely by word of mouth.

"Busier than I ever imagined," she said, with Pi Day promotions and a booth at Fayetteville's Harry Potter-themed DiaCON Alley of the Ozarks event nearly clearing out her supply last week. Burris' signature is an ever-changing selection, mixing staples such as apple or Key lime with such original creations as cantaloupe cream or Fruity Pebbles cheesecake.

So far it's been a family business. Her fiance, Larry Milliron, provided most of the remodeling in the space just off Wedington Road with his years of experience in construction, and her three children, whose names smashed together create the shop's name, help out. But Milliron said they'll bring on the first employee or two within weeks, and the kitchen will soon need to expand.

"They've been very supportive," Burris said of her multiplying customers. "A friend will tell a friend will tell a friend."

The council report divided businesses by type, with production, distribution and headquarter operations in one group and retail, restaurants and the like in the other. Almost half of those in the production group reported trouble recruiting for their open positions. About the same proportion said a lack of skilled labor was a major barrier to their growth, likely tied to unemployment that's been below 3 percent for months.

It's a slight improvement; more than half reported recruitment trouble in 2016, and it was nearly two-thirds in 2015. The report pointed to public school-business partnerships such as Bentonville Ignite, which connects students with an industry they're interested in, or Gentry's Career and Technical Education Center providing instruction in nursing assistance and diesel technology for several public school districts.

The council highlighted several state laws passed last year helping those programs to get started or making it easier for students to participate while still meeting school standards, such as removing requirements of how much time a students spends at a desk in a school building. Harvey said schools and the council put together a list of priorities that led to bills sponsored by multiple Northwest Arkansas legislators.

Families are also less wary of technical careers, which can pay well and allow for future higher education or more training, Harvey added.

"The culture is changing. The attitude about that has really turned recently," he said.

Some workforce training goals remain, such as an incentive, perhaps tax credits, for businesses to participate in school programs and donate up-to-date equipment, Harvey said.

State Rep. Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, sponsored a successful bill to create scholarships for students seeking training certificates in certain high-demand occupations, but Harvey said he'd like the idea expanded to other training.

Those scholarships don't apply to short-term training in industrial machine maintenance and similar work at Northwest Technical Institute's Business and Industry Training Center in Springdale, for example. Tom Freking directs the institute's economic and workforce development and said businesses send hundreds of employees a year to prepare for better-paying jobs in courses that typically last weeks or months.

Companies such as Cargill generally pay the cost for their employees, which can help keep them around in a competitive labor market, Freking said. He joked many students leave making more money than he does. Veterans and low-income people without a sponsoring employer have no assistance available for tuition.

"Funding would make all the difference in the world," Freking said. "We could take people that are basically on the streets or dislocated for whatever reason, or I could take people that are underemployed, and get them jobs that are starting at $30,000 a year. I could do that all day every day."

NW News on 03/20/2018

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