Publisher’s Notebook: ‘Labor Squeeze’ continues challenging local economy

Despite signs of a slowdown nationwide, Northern Colorado’s economy continues to chug along, albeit at an expected slower rate during 2001. With that continued economic strength, however, comes a continuation of the Labor Squeeze.

It’s been a few years since The Northern Colorado Business Report and its sister paper, The Boulder County Business Report, produced special sections under the header, “The Labor Squeeze,” chronicling the problems that local companies were experiencing filling positions. At the time, one local high-tech company was even considering bussing in workers from Cheyenne or Denver.

That never happened, but local companies are indeed finding that they must draw from a broader geographic area to meet their employment needs. State Farm Insurance Cos., for example, chose the Promontory development at U.S. Highway 34 Business, U.S. Highway 34 Bypass and Colorado Highway 257 in part because it’s just a few miles from the Interstate 25 corridor and population bases in metropolitan Denver, Loveland and Greeley. The company is now building the first of what could become four 150,000-square-foot buildings at Promontory.

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Another local company, Advanced Energy Industries Inc., apparently is looking southward to the I-25/U.S. 34 interchange for an eventual consolidation of its facilities, also due in part to the proximity to larger populations.

Northern Colorado companies are drawing not only from Fort Collins, Greeley or Loveland but also from Cheyenne and Laramie in Wyoming, other smaller towns in Northern Colorado, and the northern Denver area. Add all of those together, and you get a population base of more than 800,000 people, most within a mere 30 miles of I-25/U.S. 34.

It’s clear in our new Jobs section, a quarterly supplement that premiers this issue, that the Labor Squeeze continues to bedevil Northern Colorado companies. Many have been stymied in their plans for growth because they haven’t been able to find workers.

And that’s true not only in the high-tech sector but also in the trades, such as welders, machinists, plumbers, carpenters, etc.

What’s surprised many is that despite a shortage of workers, wages have not yet ballooned to the point that they cause a spike in inflation. That’s partly because gains in productivity have outstripped wage hikes.

Northern Colorado companies seeking to meet the challenges of the Labor Squeeze must employ some innovative strategies. Many are offering flex-time to their employees. Others offer a personal computer, at-home Internet access, health-club memberships, signing bonuses, bus passes or other perks.

At the state level, the fledgling Colorado Institute of Technology seeks to address the shortage of tech workers. On the education front, Aims Community College, Front Range Community College, Colorado State University, the University of Northern Colorado, and many others seeks to address the deficit both in technical workers and, in many cases, the trades.

The answer for local companies: Think outside the box. Look for ways to boost workers productivity, find innovative ways to lure and retain workers, and be willing to up the ante in both pay and benefits.

Slowing economy or not, the Labor Squeeze isn’t going anywhere.