Commentary: Labor-force study points way toward regional cooperation; Help may be on the way

Local economic-development leaders — from Fort Collins, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland — have joined forces to commission a study of the region˜s labor shortage, probably the single-greatest obstacle to the region˜s economic well-being.
An outside firm will conduct the study of the labor market, including which skills are in demand and which are in surplus. The study will also ask business leaders to think ahead to determine what skills will be needed one, two, even five years in the future.
Business owners sometimes complain that political and economic-development leaders are too detached, that they haven˜t a clue as to what…