“We’re making great progress in jobs and job creation in this state. As you know, that’s our focus,” Shumlin said at a news conference held during the 2015 Vermont Manufacturers Summit.
Unofficial figures show there were 3,900 new jobs created in Vermont in 2014, he said. Those figures won’t be final until March, but the governor said he doesn’t expect they will change greatly. More than three-quarters of those jobs are in the private sector, Shumlin added.
Those numbers show that Vermont is coming out of the Great Recession, he said, but the question for state government and the business community is how to sustain that trend?
“As the employers that are standing here can tell you, and others here at the Manufacturer’s Summit, the biggest challenge for job growth right now is having enough folks who are trained in the skills that are needed to do the jobs that are available,” Shumlin said.
Brenan Riehl, president and CEO of GW Plastics in Bethel and Royalton, said his company’s need for highly trained workers is “acute.”
One way Shumlin hopes to fill open positions is through the Engineering Partnership Program announced during his budget address. Using current state programs and support from employers it will allow students to earn a free associates degree in mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science and information technology from Vermont Technical College (VTC).
Riehl said he supports the governor’s plan to create a pipeline of skilled workers by partnering with VTC and companies like his to meet that demand. VTC and GW Plastics will take that a step further, offering an apprenticeship program for current employees to advance their careers.
Shumlin also wants to enhance the Vermont Employment Growth Incentive Program (VEGI), which offers cash incentives to qualifying businesses that create jobs in Vermont by launching startups, expanding operations or relocating to the state.
His proposal would tweak eligibility requirements to help more companies qualify and aims to increase participation in areas of the state with higher unemployment.
Specifically, Shumlin would make it possible to extend the period to earn incentives beyond one to two years, remove the $1 million dollar cap per VEGI incentive in high unemployment regions, and provide a greater incentive for VEGI recipients with significant training needs.
A recent VPR report highlighted the revenue Vermont forgoes in order to offer such tax incentives, but Shumlin said those that are targeted toward growing business in the state are worth the investment — even with a looming $100 million budget gap.
Logic Supply in South Burlington, which engineers and manufactures computer systems for harsh environments such as factory floors or mining operations, has leveraged support from VEGI several times since moving to Vermont in the mid-2000s, said Mark Heyman, director of human resources. The company is looking to do so again for a planned expansion of its manufacturing and testing facilities.
Logic Supply is a global company with facilities in the Netherlands and Taiwan, and state tax incentive programs are part of what make it economically viable to remain headquartered in Vermont, Heyman said.
“If I wanted to go where I could get the most embedded engineers at the lowest cost with the skill set I need, we would have been building out our facility in Taipei. We didn’t want to do that, we wanted to stay here, but we’re business people, we had to make sure we did it smartly,” he said.
To do that, the company is focused on training workers in Vermont to meet their needs, or “growing our own rock stars,” as Heyman put it, and he said programs like the workforce training partnership with VTC and the state could help.
Putting a number on how many jobs are vacant because there’s a lack of qualified employees is difficult, said Patricia Moulton, Secretary of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.
It’s impossible to quantify without a detailed analysis, but Windham County just did one and found in excess of 3,000 job openings over the next five years, just from growth and attrition as people retire, according to Moulton.
Extrapolate that to the entire state, she said, and the need for a skilled workforce is clear.
The state is also hosting a series of workshops to help local businesses navigate the procurement process for state contracts.
Currently, Vermont businesses receive 79 percent of state contracts, but that number is far lower for sectors like commodity contracts, where in-state businesses only hold 30 percent of contracts, according to figures from the state.
For details or to sign up for one of the free workshops click here.
