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| By Ryan
Cummings
13 News
Many employers across the state have open
positions to fill but there's not enough qualified people for the
jobs. Now, two local groups try to figure out why.
Hundreds
of jobs in the area remain empty. The Rockford Jobs Council and
Rockford Area Economic Development Council try to figure out what's
happening with job growth, which positions are open, and why certain
people can't find jobs. Ralph Martire with the Center for Tax and
Budget Accountability says, "We know we can attract high end
employers to this state and keep and expand high end employers in
the manufacturing field if only we made the commitment to developing
the type of skilled workers they need," says, Martire.
The
challenge is finding the right people with the right skills. Last
year job growth was good, but there was a negative side. "Most of
the jobs are lower paying service sector jobs in what's not really
growing rapidly right now in Illinois and Rockford are those
great-old high paying good benefit manufacturing jobs and that's
really a key."
According to the Center for Tax and Budget
Accountability and NIU, Illinois has the fifth largest state
economy, but still ranks 35th in job production, creating 37,000 a
year. And almost 700,000 workers here in the state earn less than
the minimum wage of $17,950. Mark Podemski, the Vice President of
Development with RAEDC says, "It's a competition and those
communities that do a better job of solving this issue are going to
win economically and that's what this is about. It's about wealth
creation in our community."
And the way to bring in that
wealth is to have more people in low-paying jobs land higher paying
positions. To do that, experts recommend honing skills and keep
pursuing your education.
Updated: June 29, 2007, 4:46 pm
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