Clayberg Honored on Courier's 20 Under 40 List for 2013

Buchanan County Economic Development Director Nate Clayberg was one of 20 young professionals in the Cedar Valley featured in the November 2013 issue of the Cedar Valley Business Monthly.  This month's issue honors the 20 young community leaders in the Cedar Valley for the Courier Newspaper's 20 Under 40 list for 2013.

Download the Jim Offner article about Clayberg's profile.

A Modern Economic Development Challenge: Bailing Boomers

This article was published in the 2013 Independence Bulletin Journal Progress Issue, September 1013

Over the last few years, as we have come out of the Great Recession, politicians and the media have said that the answer to aid economic recovery is Job Creation.  Higher unemployment and slow business and consumer spending fuel this theory. Buchanan County as a whole has come through this period very well compared to other parts of the state and country.

The unemployment rate for Buchanan County in July 2013 was down to 4.5% (Cedar Valley 4.7%, Iowa 4.8%, US 7.4%) compared to 4.7% in July 2012 (Cedar Valley 5.3%, Iowa 5.1%, US 8.2%). We have seen “job creation” take effect in our county with local manufacturers, healthcare organizations, plus service and retail businesses adding to their staffs.  Local and regional companies are continually looking to hire more employees, and effort has helped drop this number that is watched closely by politicians and Wall Street.  However, we have also seen some layoffs and business closings in our region from some larger employers as well. These reductions however have been seen as a positive for Cedar Valley employers eager to hire skilled workers for their companies.

The unemployment statistics show that there is improvement in employment over the last year, but those numbers do not tell the entire story. A portion of the drop in unemployment has been caused by individuals no longer seeking employment.  These are people that lose unemployment benefits and are no longer seeking a job, but this group of people also includes workers leaving their jobs for retirement.

Our country is about two years into the beginning of the era of 78-million of our skilled workers leaving for life after 40+ years of working.  To use a term from economic development author Mark Lautman, “the Boomers are Bailing.”  The Baby Boom generation, workers that were born between 1946 and 1964, have or are seeing retirement on the horizon and are making arrangements to sail off in the sunset, and for the next 16+ years we will see that generation make a steady path towards the point in their life were they can cash in on their pensions, 401k and Social Security Benefits.  That is if they planned effectively enough financially.

This problem will be slowed as we see retirees working well past 65 for various reasons, and the influx of immigrant labor coming into our labor force.  But the higher skilled positions held by Baby Boomers will be challenging to fill as the pool of skilled labor is projected to deteriorate in the future. In many cases it already has.

Source: When the Boomers Bail (Mark Lautman)

I do not want to paint the picture of the sky falling in our economy since the Bulletin Journal’s annual progress issue is an opportunity to promote the growth of business in the Independence area, and there are certainly a number of projects that will help grow our county seat.  We have seen expansion projects completed at Geater Machining and Manufacturing and Wapsie Valley Creamery, enhancements to a number of local retail buildings and the completion of the new Independence Junior/ Senior High School. This new building is by far the greatest economic development retention and attraction asset created by this community in many years. 

Not only are the new school facilities in Independence state of the art, but the curriculum that is being designed for that new facility will be a great tool in giving our local community the answer to “What will the Independence community do when the Boomers Bail?”  To help solve the problem of having a declining labor pool in a steady (or growing) population, local schools and colleges will play heavy into having a solution to this problem over the next decade.  The new school building will attract new families to live in the district, and the efforts of the school administration will enhance that attraction with quality education that will create the next generation of workers. These will need to be workers that will come out their education in high school and college ready to fill jobs vacated by the Boomers in our local economy. Another challenge will be to attract those new workers to stay or come back to Buchanan County and the Cedar Valley to work or start a business.

So what can you do to help this problem?

It’s a little too late, and inappropriate,  to ask everyone to have more children to help fill the gap since those children that are currently in pre-school will be the ones looking to replace the “late” boomers that are right now pushing 50 years of age.  This is how far that gap will be in the next 15-17 years. 

The labor gap was created by parents of the Boomers, and now it needs to be remedied by those Boomers and their adult children (Gen Xers) to support enhanced soft skill development.  The skills that are needed in a quality work ethic.  The skills of motivation, dependability, communication, time management, teamwork, trustworthiness and leadership are very important in developing workers to fill the jobs in all industries that are coming open and will grow in the future.  Some of these skills can be nurtured in our schools, but they originate in the home with families nurturing the future success of their children as contributing members of society.

Source: When the Boomers Bail (Mark Lautman)

So bottom line, inspire young people to educate themselves for quality jobs. Encourage those that are able to work, but aren’t, to get back in the labor force or seek education that makes that possible.  And if you are a grandparent, or parent, that would love to see your family members that live far from the Cedar Valley come back home to live, work and play – tell them about the companies that are hiring in our region and show them the progress that is taking place in this community to grow a quality of life in Cedar Valley Region of Iowa. 

Visit these websites for more information:

www.growbuchanan.com

www.indycommerce.com

www.cedarvalleylife.com