Job, business growth faces a catch-22 situation in Grant County

Local businesses, such as Dollar General Distribution Center and Wal-Mart Distribution Center, consistently have openings, which also points towards this projected growth.

“The distribution centers and factories always seem to be hiring,” Kylie Jackson, president of Marion-Grant County Chamber of Commerce, said. “There’s a demand. There are a ton of places hiring as long as long as people are willing to do the work.”

Mike Hicks, director for the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research, said those projections are not accurate, however.

“I think the notion that you will see employment growth in Grant County isn’t likely,” he said. “We don’t see any evidence of it. I’m not confident it’s going to rise.”

Hicks noted record low unemployment numbers in the county, around 3.6 percent, as well as a declining population as indications as to why many businesses have trouble finding workers and seem to always have job postings.

“The unemployment rate in Grant County and across the state is a record low,” Hick said, which means there are less and less available workers to hire. “Grant County’s problem is the available workforce is not desirable.”

Hicks said businesses have already started hiring marginal workers they wouldn’t normally consider.

Rick Farrant, director of communications of Northeast Indiana Works, said there is a need to improve workers’ skill sets, but at the same time there are dwindling possible employees.

“The argument that we need to improve people’s skill set still holds true,” he said. “But there is an equal need for people in entry level positions in those industries and others. So it’s not just about bridging a skill gap. We’ve reached a point in the region where we’re talking about a volume issue.”

Increasing skills sets, and improving education, is a major key in creating employment opportunities, according to Hicks. When an area has a strong schools they not only produce qualified workers, but they also attract households, and in turn, businesses, Hicks explained.

“School quality brings people in,” he said. “(Schools) are both blades of the scissors for success.”

But when school systems suffer the quality of workers suffers, populations decrease and businesses find themselves without an attractive employment pool.

Workforce Development projects education services, manufacturing and health care, will be the top three employing industries, respectively, in the county in the near future and projects a growth anywhere from nine to 22 percent.

Hicks paints a bleaker outlook for the county and said businesses will be apt to leave when there aren’t enough people to fill openings. The solution is complicated, Hicks said, but it boils down to simply bringing people into the county.

“If Grant County can find a way to attract households, there would be a high likelihood businesses would return,” Hicks said.

It’s not just Grant County that faces this dilemma. The entire northeast region, as well as many areas statewide, are faced with a catch-22.

“It’s difficult for a region to attract businesses because you want to attract businesses but at the same point you have an issue finding workers to support that business,” Farrant said. “And this is the conundrum that northeast Indiana finds itself right now.”

Improving education is definite start, Hicks said, but communities being honest with self-assessment is just as important.

“I think there are some communities that have kept their heads in the sand for too long,” he said.

Chronicle-Tribune reporter Amy Smelser contributed to this article.