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Blair sees employment shift as firms downsize, others grow

Chamber works to prepare young people for careers that match workforce needs

Blair County’s employment picture continues to take a beating.

Monday’s announcement of 45 workers being furloughed at Gardner Denver’s Tipton plant followed a May 20 announcement that North American Communications was closing its Duncansville plant with the loss of about 200 jobs and a mid-July notice that 72 people were losing their jobs with the closure of WATCO’s Hollidaysburg tank car facility

On Sept. 3, Norfolk Southern announced the layoff of about 100 workers at the Juniata Locomotive Shop.

With the exception of North American Communications, all of the recent downsizing decisions were made by corporations based outside of our area, said President/CEO Steve McKnight of Altoona Blair County Development Corp.

“They all have cited changes in global market conditions influenced heavily by new technologies and supply chain demands. Those type of disruptions are beyond our control and are part of an overall modern business cycle. The decisions had nothing to do with the quality of our local workforce or community assets,” McKnight said.

“Blair County has been extremely fortunate in that we’ve had very little business slowdowns and our unemployment rate has stayed extremely low,” said President/CEO Joe Hurd of the Blair County Chamber of Commerce.

“The North American Communications closing and the layoffs at Norfolk Southern and Gardner Denver were disappointing but not necessarily a huge surprise, given the challenges in those industry sectors. Like most areas of the commonwealth, our employment situation is in flux. We have people losing jobs and employers desperately looking to hire. If the skills matched up, we’d be in great shape. We’re unfortunately not that lucky,” Hurd said.

“We are fortunate that Blair County has diverse industries that when there is a loss of jobs in one sector, it is possible to find new employment opportunities in other sectors,” said State Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair.

Efforts continue to help the many displaced workers.

“In each case, our immediate attention is on helping match those displaced workers with new job opportunities. Statistics provided through the PA CareerLink system point to a continued high demand for skilled production and trades people. More than 1,000 skilled trades positions remain unfilled as of today. It is likely that most if not all of the people displaced in recent months have or will find new jobs in the local labor force,” McKnight said.

“Every day we are meeting with local businesses, both large and small, to find out what they need to be successful. We can provide low-interest financing, facilitate tax credit or other incentive programs when applicable. This has been a tradition for ABCD Corp. and Blair County stakeholders,” McKnight said.

Workforce development a priority

Workforce development is at the top of the list for both the chamber and General Assembly.

“It’s been there for a while, and it will be there a lot longer. Through our BASICS program, we’re doing our best to prepare young people for careers that match our current workforce needs. We’re also looking to spearhead a regional workforce initiative so that we can tackle this issue with regional partners. There are no easy solutions to this problem,” Hurd said.

“Workforce development continues to be at the forefront of issues the General Assembly is considering. Training dollars must support programs, which retrain displaced workers with the skills needed to fill available jobs,” Ward said.

The area faces challenges in attracting workers.

Housing a drawback

“One of our biggest challenges is our older housing stock. More people are looking for mountain communities with outdoor lifestyles like ours. And they are able to more easily move to small towns, bringing their job or business with them. Ultimately they need a quality place to live. The majority of our housing stock was built prior to 1940. Usually they are not the style that is in demand and often require extensive and costly renovations. We need better market-rate housing from higher-density urban living, townhomes and newer single family homes that are ready to go,” McKnight said.

“We lack a high number of family-sustaining jobs. Our housing stock is not conducive to a population in the middle-income range. And our No. 1 industry — agriculture — struggles to recruit workers willing to work a rigorous schedule. All of these things are fixable, but none fall into the category of short-term fixes,” Hurd said.

Despite the layoffs, the current market, especially among home grown corporate headquarter companies, remains strong, McKnight said.

“Overall job growth from July ’18-’19 is estimated at just over 2 percent. When you consider job replacement demand due to retirements, which can exceed 1,000 people each year, we will need to generate a strong influx of people into our community to both live and work. With unemployment remaining at just about 4 percent, the overall labor market is tight among all occupations,” McKnight said.

Some firms growing

Some good things are happening, Ward said.

“Investments are being made to grow our business sectors. A few examples of companies receiving PIDA loans recently are Curry Supply Holdings Inc., a specialized custom service truck manufacturer, which is renovating a 34,000-square-foot building in downtown Altoona. They and their affiliate entity Curry Design are expected to retain 30 full-time jobs and create 10 full-time jobs within three years,” Ward said. “Ritchey’s Dairy is expanding their dairy processing and packaging operation. The project will allow the company to retain 34 full-time jobs within three years, and DelGrosso Foods Inc. is acquiring and renovating a new building and expected to create nine full-time jobs and retain 104 jobs over the next three years.”

To help displaced workers, a job fair will be held Wednesday at the Jaffa Shrine Center.

The event is open to veterans from 10 to 10:30 a.m. and to the general public from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. At least 85 businesses will be participating in the event.

Mirror Staff Writer Walt Frank is at 946-7467.

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