EMPLOYMENT
14
Unemployment
Rate Dec 2021
THE AREA’S DECEMBER
LABOR FORCE WAS UP
13.7% FROM APRIL 2020,
THE LOW POINT SINCE
COVID-19 AROSE.
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County Unemployment
Rate Dec 2022
22.7% in Indian River. The area’s December
labor force was up 13.7% from April 2020,
the low point since COVID-19 arose.
As many businesses show pre-pandemic
levels of sales and as business activity
continues to rise, employers are having
a difficult time recruiting, hiring and
maintaining quality employees, according
to Tom Kindred, director of the Small
Business Development Center at Indian
River State College.
“It’s a good time for individuals to make
the best deal they can particularly for
manufacturing workers with advanced
skills, such as welding,” Kindred said.
While it may be a jobseeker’s market,
most employers still think that they are
doing a favor for applicants and employees,
explained Donna D’Alfonso, president
of HR Dynamics in Vero Beach.
“It’s not just the paycheck,” D’Alfonso
said. “They want a seat at the table” where
decisions are made.
Laura Burgess, vice president of talent
engagement for the global Shepherd
Search Group based in Port St. Lucie, said
that workers need the chance to develop
their talents and advance in the company.
“If one of those is missing, they have to
make a hell of a lot of money.”
MORE FLEXIBILITY SOUGHT
Staffing experts on the Treasure Coast
said that jobseekers and employees are
split when it comes to working remotely,
which is in line with a survey of U.S.
workers released last fall by professional
services group Grant Thornton.
The survey showed that 51% would give
up a 10% to 20% salary hike for more flexibility
in when and where they work. Also,
it showed that while 40% would look for
another job if they were forced to return to
an office full time, 56% prefer working in
an office.
Working from home seemed like an attractive
option to most workers at the start
of the pandemic but is not as big a deal
now for many, D’Alfonso said.
“People are realizing they were not
getting the social aspect. It seemed like
a really good idea, but after two years, it
becomes less appealing,” she said.
PIPER HAS OPENINGS
At Piper Aircraft, Inc., which has global
headquarters in Vero Beach, production
is back to pre-pandemic levels after
slackening off in 2020 when flight schools
stopped buying the company’s trainer
planes. Plus, people who can afford it have
been buying small airplanes in the past
year or so. This has extended work orders
well into 2023, Piper spokeswoman Jackie
Carlon said.
There are about 100 open positions at
Piper, and it is not as easy as it once was to
fill them, Carlon said. Piper in late January
had 955 workers, up from 900 employees
a year ago. Carlon said Piper hopes that it
can reach 1,000 employees by mid-2022.
As staffing experts say, a key factor to
retaining workers is the sense of contributing
in a meaningful way. Carlon said that
is achieved at Piper every time employees
see a plane they helped build fly away
with a new owner.
Piper officials must keep pace with
competitors’ pay and monitor that closely,
Carlon said.
Another business where sales have
improved dramatically since spring 2020
is the Dockside Inn & Resort on South
Beach in Fort Pierce. General manager Joe
Zebrowski said the omicron variant of COVID
19 has not had any effect on workers
calling in sick.
While sanitizing procedures adopted in
2020 remain in effect, masks are no longer
worn by customers who have helped sales
reach records, he said.
“About a half year ago we started
to outpace 2019 sales revenue every
month,” Zebrowski said. “You can never be
sure, but I’m confident” that business will
remain robust.
DON’T WAIT TO HIRE
“To employers I say when you find the
potential worker you really like don’t
dilly-dally around because good workers
will already have a job if you wait,” Mary
Murphy, business service consultant and
talent navigator at CareerSource Research
Coast, said. That nonprofit agency has four
locations on the Treasure Coast.
Burgess of the Shepherd Search Group
said, “Be flexible, be open-minded and
grow.”
Often, Burgess said, successful employers
and managers are trustworthy, able to
resolve conflicts quickly, and respond to
feedback from workers.
“What it comes down to is communication,”
she said.
Also, employers must learn to adapt to
keep happy workers from different generations
who want different things.
“This is the first time in history that we
have five generations in the workforce,”
Burgess said, ranging from the Silent
Generation born 1945 or earlier, to
Generation Z born from 1997 on.
D’Alfonso and Kolleda said that on the
Treasure Coast, Baby Boomers are the
most numerous among those leaving jobs,
often to retire. The Baby Boomers were
born from 1946, right after World War
II, to 1964, the year the Beatles came to
America. v
Source: U.S. Labor Dept. Figures not adjusted for seasonal factors
Unemployment
Rate Apr 2020
Workforce
Total Dec 2021
Workforce
Total Apr 2020
ST. LUCIE 3.8% 3.8% 14.1% 155,377 136,528
MARTIN 2.9% 2.8% 11.8% 78,056 68,553
INDIAN RIVER 3.7% 3.6% 14.0% 68,473 60,549
FLORIDA 3.2% 4.2% 13.9% 10.6 million 9.7 million
UNITED STATES 3.7% 6.5% 14.4% 161.7 million 155.8 million
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