As companies continually seek skilled laborers for manufacturing jobs, Scranton ranked among the top 20 metro areas in the United States for industrial employers based on workforce readiness, according to a study conducted by Commercial Search, a modern, online marketplace for commercial real estate.
Scranton ranked 18th — just above Detroit and just below Atlanta — in the study, which considered three main factors: workforce and education/training, infrastructure and financial considerations.
Among the key highlights of the study, Scranton ranked fourth for industrial apprenticeship count, with 238 active apprentices per 10,000 residents in selected industrial occupations; and seventh for railway density, with 114 miles of freight rail per 1,000 square miles of land area.
John Augustine, president and CEO of Penn’s Northeast, a regional economic development agency that serves Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike, Schuylkill, Wayne and Wyoming counties, believes the dedication of the workers across the area stands out to employers.
“We still have a very strong work ethic in Northeastern Pennsylvania,” he said. “That can actually be measured in terms of reliability, how long people stay at their jobs, and if they can come in on time. The other thing we see because of the increase in industry that we’ve experienced over the past couple years is we have more people that are skilled in similar industries — we see that in plastics and metal fabrication. If a company said we’re looking at coming here and doing a plastics manufacturing facility, we can say we have 35 companies that employ over 1,000 people in that industry. You have an available, ready and educated workforce to be able to choose from.”
Augustine (SUBMITTED PHOTO)
Augustine added that positive reviews from other firms which relocate to the region also carry weight within the industry.
“The best advertisement we can give a company is another company’s testimonial saying why they moved to Scranton and northeastern PA,” he said. “Companies know they’re getting a better bang for their buck here than in New York or New Jersey. If a big competitor moves to Scranton and says they found a great workforce, they’re close to major markets and we have the space that’s ready, that’s the greatest testimonial we can get. We’ve been fortunate to have developers like Mericle and NorthPoint who build buildings on spec so we have inventory that’s ready to go. You see the headlines a lot of the Amazons, but we still bring in a tremendous amount of manufacturers to the area.”
Augustine pointed to a project in Pittston Twp. where Todd Arthurs Holdings is constructing an approximately 400,000-square-foot building that is going to be specific for manufacturing.
“It’s going to be broken up into three different sections and they’re not targeting warehouse distribution, they’re actually targeting the manufacturing sector,” he said. “We will help market that building, whether it’s agribusiness, plastics, metals, etc.”
A diverse mix of higher-education institutions also helps prepare students for an ever-changing workforce, Augustine said.
“The 19 colleges and universities are doing different things, and that’s important,” he said. “They’re not all liberal arts schools — Johnson College is focusing more on automotive or welding. Companies pay attention to it and that’s why we did an education guide a couple years ago, not just to say we have 40,000 students enrolled in our colleges and universities, but to say these are the types of majors that we’re highly skilled and trained in so we can have that workforce ready for you. And, because we have a lot of community and two-year colleges, they can adapt to a company a lot quicker than a four-year institution can in terms of customizing a training program for the company.”
Additionally, there are about 500,000 workers in Northeast Pennsylvania so, after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and the Lehigh Valley, we’re No. 4 in the state in terms of the number of people that companies have to choose from, Augustine said.
“Companies are pulling out a scorecard and saying, ‘How many boxes can you check?’ ” Augustine said. “When we can do a majority of them, it makes their decision to locate here all the more easier. And, when they see other household names, other competitors, or other customers and suppliers moving, it almost does our job for us.”
Augustine stated it’s been a gradual process for Scranton, and Northeast Pennsylvania, to build its strong industrial reputation.
“This didn’t happen overnight,” he said. “It’s something the economic development community has been working on for quite some time by getting our colleges and universities to listen to the needs of the employers, getting our commercial developers to build property and have buildings ready to go, and having that strong workforce.”