Expand<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThe reality for us is just having such a hard time getting them into jobs, regionally, and then they\u2019re leaving,\u201d she said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to Virginia, Delaware and other places.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bob Durkin, president and CEO of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, stressed the organization must continue to prepare job seekers for in-demand careers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong the key elements we\u2019re trying accomplish are talent retention, talent attraction and recognizing that within our schools, both K-12 and higher education, the jobs we have need certain skillsets and we need to be able to see where those job opportunities are,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An influx of new people into the region since the COVID-19 pandemic helped lessen the blow of workers retiring at a higher rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen some population growth, in Lackawanna County, since the pandemic and that growth is projected to continue over the next several years,\u201d Avery-Stoss said. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily due to natural population change, with births outnumbering deaths, it\u2019s because people are moving here. That\u2019s something we really need because our population is getting older. There are fewer people to fill jobs, so we need folks to come fill our positions and participate in all the different ways that help keep the economy vibrant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avery-Stoss believes the area has shed the perception that there are not a lot of quality, high-paying jobs here.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing that change,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have a ton of jobs, and they are not only low-level or high-level jobs; there is a lot of diversity and plenty of entry points for folks with all sorts of backgrounds.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added there is a growing need for workers in health care roles such as nurses, certified nursing assistants, licensed practical nurses, dental hygienists and personal care and home health aides.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking at a deficit of about 20,000 registered nurses, and with our aging population, we have a relatively high population of people with disabilities compared to similarly sized regions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The region also continues to grapple with barriers to employment that include child care, transportation and housing.<\/p>\n
While it has improved, transportation presents a challenge for people attempting to get to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur biggest sectors are manufacturing, logistics and health care and those are not 9 to 5 positions, they are around the clock and bus routes aren\u2019t really active in those times,\u201d Avery-Stoss said.<\/p>\n
She labeled housing as a \u201cmassive concern\u201d for residents trying to find and keep jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe housing crisis is a national thing, but it\u2019s also a little bit unique in our region,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was an issue before the pandemic, but it\u2019s been exacerbated since then somewhat due to the influx of population.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Scranton\/Wilkes-Barre\/Hazleton metro area experienced a 42% increase in the typical market rate for rent from 2019-2024, Avery-Stoss noted. Additionally, the typical home value increased by more than 70% in Lackawanna County and more than 90% in Luzerne County during the same time period, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cResearch indicates people who are not stably housed or face any kind of housing insecurity are much less likely to perform well academically and much less likely to maintain employment,\u201d Avery-Stoss said.<\/p>\n
Despite some of the challenges, Avery-Stoss believes the state of the workforce remains strong locally.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s going to look a little bit different as different jobs come to the area,\u201d she said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be a little more competition amongst employers, which could be good in terms of wage growth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2014\u00a0Employers\u2019 strict standards for entry-level positions are among the toughest challenges recent college graduates face in obtaining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[60,201,182,803,28,178,180,179,181],"class_list":["post-91970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-business","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-stt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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