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Clinton Lang
EagleHerald staff writer
MARINETTE - This country has a jobs problem - plain and simple. Unless you've been living in a cave for the past few years, you probably understand that fact by now. Turn on any television, and you're sure to see raging debate over how to solve the nation's lingering unemployment problem.
There is a jobs problem here locally as well, but it is far different than the one that the President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are talking about on TV.
Here in Marinette and Menominee, there are plenty of good jobs available, yet for a number of reasons the positions remain unfilled. But why is that the case?
Thursday night, at an economic summit held by Nicolet National Bank at Little River Country Club, a panel of business leaders tackled the complex employment issues facing the community and sought to shine light on possible solutions to the economic problems that exist here at home.
The consensus of the panel was this: While manufacturing continues to rise steadily in the Twin Cities, there are not enough skilled employees available to fill the existing job openings.
Local business leaders are aggressively seeking answers.
"In Marinette, if you ask me, I'll say there's zero unemployment, because if anyone wants to work, there's a job for them ," said David Mielke, President and CEO of ChemDesign Products. He argued that local kids need to be shown at a young age that there are indeed many neat things for them do with their lives right here at home.
Rob Abfall, director of operations at TYCO Fire Protection Products in Marinette, had a question: "Does Marinette/Menominee want to grow?"
Abfall reluctantly said that he and his family reside in Suamico, Wis. Why? Because the retail and recreational facilities that exist in the Green Bay area are superior to those in Marinette/Menominee.
However, according to Abfall, a top-notch community center - like the proposed recreation facility that has been gaining traction locally - would be huge draw for the Twin Cities.
"If you look around our community, we don't have state-of-the-art facilities. That's what we're competing with, and that's the reality.
"I feel very strongly about making this community someplace that people want to live," he said.
Chuck Goddard, President and CEO of Marinette Marine Corp., weighed on the community's strengths and what he thinks could be done to make Marinette and Menominee more attractive to prospective residents.
"There are things about this area that are just phenomenal. The schools are wonderful here," Goddard said. "In the end, if we're going to bring some talent here, we have to do some things about the infrastructure."
Peshtigo Mayor Al Krizenesky agreed, saying "we've got a lot of assets here."
Yet the mayor was quick to point out that while the area's hunting and fishing may be second-to-none, there exists a need for additional retail opportunities to entice would-be residents.
But all agreed that the answer to growing the workforce and the community does not lie in infrastructure improvements alone.
Nicolet National Bank CEO Bob Atwell explained another aspect of the area's jobs problem.
Locally,it isn't so much unemployment - it's unemployability. We're not getting kids with the skills and attitude they need for the work that they could do," Atwell said. In addressing the area's "lack of skilled employees" issue, Trisha Dickinson Lemery, President and CEO of Winsert, Inc., explained some of the problems that currently exist and offered up some possible solutions.
Lemery said there is a "brain-drain" occurring locally - largely because the kids coming out of high school don't look at manufacturing as a "prestigious" field.
She spoke about how she constantly emphasizes the importance of math and science to her own children.
"I tell them that kids around the world are going to be stealing your jobs, and you're going to be asking 'do you want fries with that,'" she said.
Lemery explained that Winsert recently underwent a large expansion - one which provided 90 new jobs - but she said unfortunately, the company is having a hard time filling them. She pointed out that teachers aren't to blame for the shortage of skilled employees, instead "it starts at home, with the family at the dinner table." Abfall agreed, saying "I think we've lost our way as a society." He said that better parenting and keeping kids away from drugs are key elements to turning the situation around.
Lemery said she knows and understands the magnitude of the drug problem all too well - she deals with it first-hand when trying to hire new employees.
"Unless you're living underneath a rock, you have to realize the drug problem in this area is horrific. You'd be surprised how many kids look good on paper, and come in for a job and fail a drug test," Lemery said.
For local companies like Winsert, TYCO, Marinette Marine and the many others that are expanding and in need additional employees, the importance of prospective employees acquiring a good education and technical skills and staying away from drugs could not be stressed enough.
According to the panel, if the area's young people adhere to those tenets, there will be good-paying, rewarding jobs awaiting them, right here at home, when it comes time for them to enter the workforce.
"It's all about building what we do here. It's about the community and it's about being involved with education and keeping the kids that we have here," Goddard said.
Sent from blackberry wireless Escanaba, MI
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