Posted on 05/30/2012 9:01:03 PM PDT by Hunton Peck
Nearly two-thirds of employers, many of them manufacturing companies, plan to hire people in the next six months, a new survey from Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce shows.
The 62% who said they plan to add employees is up from 53% a year ago and 44% last December, according to the survey of 182 companies.
Fifty-seven percent said they were having trouble hiring people, with most of those companies blaming it on a lack of qualified applicants.
"Most of the unemployed coming through our door don't have the skills to get into the jobs we have available," Mark Tyler, president of OEM Fabricators Inc., said in an interview.
"If there was one issue I would say is the most pressing to help drive the economy, it's the skills gap," said Tyler, whose Woodville-based company makes components for mining, railroad, energy and other industries.
The survey, done annually since 1997 by the state business lobby, shows that more than half of the companies planned to expand in Wisconsin in the next 24 months - the highest rate in 10 years.
OEM Fabricators had a 75% sales increase in 2011 and expects similar growth this year.
"Even throttled back, we would be looking at 25% to 30% revenue growth," Tyler said.
The company, with 480 employees, plans to hire another 100 people in the next three years.
A year ago, it held a mock "funeral for the recession," which publicly proclaimed an end to hard times.
"Our customers are pushing us to take on more work, which is good. Everything in our portfolio has been strong with the exception of construction equipment - and we are starting to see some signs of life there as well," Tyler said.
The possibility of an economic slowdown and higher taxes and health-care costs were among the...
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Wisconsin economy looking good, getting better ping!
Forgive me if this is a double ping. I’m not sure if HuntonPeck pinged the whole list on this improving Wisconsin economy. Please accept my apologies if this is an extra ping.
I tried to ping the list, but it looks like several names fell off as I copied & pasted it. That’s corrected now (I think).
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