Editorial: Communities should join in study of labor shortage, solutions

Government and economic-development officials along the Northern Front Range should join in a study of the region’s labor force.

Such a study, envisioned by the Economic Development Association of Longmont, would help define the level of skills that exist along the Front Range, determine what “skill sets” are needed by the region’s employers, and reveal what commuter patterns exist that take workers from one community to another. It also could devise a regional approach to alleviating the problem.

examining what assets we have, we’ll also determine in what industries we should recruit workers and help define what skills are needed not during…