The leaders of Indiana’s Elkhart County Economic Development Corp. warned elected officials last Wednesday against letting a shortage of quality workers creep up on them.
President Mark Dobson spoke to current and newly elected officials from the county and from cities including Elkhart, Nappanee, Middlebury, and Bristol about how the EDC could help them attract and retain businesses in their communities.
This story by Jordan Fouts originally appeared in The Elkhart Truth.
One of the biggest concerns now among both existing employers and potential new ones is lack of workforce, said Dobson and Chris Stager, vice president of retention and expansion.
He said they should take the lack of laborers as a warning sign when an Elkhart business creates jobs in another county, as when Lippert Components announced 125 new jobs in New Haven in 2015 with its acquisition of Signature Seating. The town had just seen 400 jobs lost with the closures of Vera Bradley and Parker Hannifin.
Elkhart Mayor Tim Neese said he’s heard the same thing from company representatives. They need employees.
Dobson and Stager addressed some ways the EDC has focused on worker education in recent years, from sponsoring Manufacturing Week in the county last year which introduced 635 eighth-graders to area manufacturers, to bringing the Leadership Training Series in 2015 delivered by the Purdue Technical Assistance Program. The series looked at challenges that both new and experienced company leaders encounter.