Study focuses on bringing “hidden and future workers” into the workforce

The North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce today announced the completion of a comprehensive workforce study to provide solutions for employers who are struggling to find skilled labor and offer suggestions to balance the labor market now and into the future.

The study, “Worker Shortages and the North Central Massachusetts Region: Engaging Hidden and Future Workers to Grow the Local Economy,” was prepared by the UMass Donahue Institute’s Economic and Public Policy Research group, a leading provider of applied research to help clients make more informed decisions about strategic economic and public policy issues.

Focusing on workforce growth challenges and solutions, the study outlines workforce barriers related to geography, skills, structure, and work-life balance, and includes short-, mid- and long-term recommendations for how to grow the North Central workforce.

The study utilized a collaboration between regional business and education leaders and workforce development experts, which revealed two classes of workers who are not being fully utilized, but who have skills local employers need. “Hidden workers” are identified as applicants who are screened out of consideration for jobs or those who have no choice but to remain out of the workforce due to barriers beyond their control, and “future workers” are people who soon will be in the labor force due to age, location, technology and other factors.

“Like many other areas of the Commonwealth, North Central is feeling the impacts of stagnant labor force engagement beyond the effects of pandemic shutdowns,” noted Roy Nascimento, President and CEO, North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce. “Our region is particularly susceptible to labor force shrinkage due to our aging population and slower population growth, but also because our hidden and future workers within the region have other needs which are not being met by our local labor market. In fact, some workers are finding the job search to be just as difficult as it was before the pandemic. The barriers and recommendations in the plan will require all different community stakeholders in North Central to work together to meet the regions workforce needs.”

The issues are complex and varied. Some stem from a lack of affordable housing adjacent to jobs and transportation to and from where affordable housing is available. Others deal with current skills sets that, sadly, no longer align with industries in the area or overly aggressive online applicant filters that may discriminate an applicant’s past. The result? A complete different set of challenges facing today’s workforce than those of years past. In fact, the study revealed the most diverse set of issues the team has seen in recent years as both workers and employers grapple with work-life balance, prioritizing shift times, complex benefits, and location issues. All of which are a far cry from the industry, company or position in the company which made jobs attractive in the past.

The study also explored a variety of solutions to pull those hidden and future workers into the labor force, including more and better childcare choices, implementation of new worker transit, the creation of innovative training and credentialing programs, and fostering relationships with local community colleges, businesses, and prisons.

“North Central’s workforce is aging, and its slower population growth is projected to continue,” said Nascimento. “In order to meet North Central’s workforce needs, employers, educational institutions and workforce development agencies must collaborate and create overlapping strategies to better engage and entice these groups into the labor force.”

Local institutions, such as Mount Wachusett Community College and Fitchburg State University, currently collaborate with employers to coordinate programs geared toward community and employer needs. Mount Wachusett Community College, in collaboration with employers, began developing a new Veteran Worker’s Initiative to assist local veterans with the transition from military skills to college/civilian skills. That program connects regional employers to students on campus, hosts panel discussions with organizations that educate employers on how to be responsive and sensitive to veteran needs and uses the college’s career services to connect students with business partners in the area.

“We are grateful for the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce’s focus on bringing education and industry together to seek pathways and solutions to the employment challenges in our region,” said James L. Vander Hooven, President of Mount Wachusett Community College. “Mount Wachusett Community College has long been committed to the Chamber’s efforts and looks forward to continuing our partnerships to ensure a well-trained workforce.”

In an effort to facilitate collaboration between employers and educational institutions, the Chamber recently hired a Talent and Education Initiatives Program Manager to support the development, retention and attraction of a qualified labor force. “By working with employers, regional partners and educational institutions on developing strategies and programs to build and strengthen our current and future workforce, it was important for us to have a team member focused on these efforts to help strengthen the collaboration,” added Nascimento.

While collaboration will be key to growing the labor force in North Central Massachusetts, the study concludes that employers need to make working easier by overcoming the identified barriers.

 

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Chamber of Commerce | North Central Massachusetts | North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce | North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation (NCMDC) | North Central Workforce Study

Do something different this year….
Community Gift Cards are Perfect for the Holidays

Delight your employees, clients and partners with a gift that shows your community spirit!

Unique to the communities of North Central Massachusetts, the new Gift Local eGift Cards work exclusively at a variety of local small businesses. Recipients can choose among food, retailers, salons and spas, entertainment and more – and every purchase helps our local businesses thrive. There is always something for everyone!

It’s Easy. Here’s how!

• Start at Giftlocal.net and select “Buy E-Gift Cards” then follow the instructions;
• Send one or a whole batch of gifts via text, email or print 1 to 99 gifts from a file of PDFs to hand-deliver;
• Write your message and schedule the eGift Cards for delivery if you want;
• Check-out and pay with your credit card. You can edit individual messages and amounts in the cart before your checkout;
• Need help? Contact Lauren Goulet at 978.353.7600 ext. 222 or email

You have options with the new gift card program:

Monthly reminders: Send gifts by email whenever possible so recipients get monthly reminders to spend them. Upload a spreadsheet with your recipients’ contact information to your account to send all your gifts at once.

Recoup unspent funds: No waste! You can set an expiration date for your gifts by contacting us. You can re-gift the rebate or request a check.

Get a discount on the $1+5% eDelivery fee to $0.50+3% if you are spending more than $1,000 and are paying in advance with a check or ACH. Contact us to get your discount. This is the best option for large purchases and/or ongoing employee rewards and recognition.

Get a free business account that allows you to deposit funds in advance to send gifts at the discounted rate, set expiration dates to recoup unspent funds, give access and budgets to managers for ongoing programs like spot bonuses, employee rewards or anniversary gifts, and run reports and analytics anytime on card distribution and usage.

The Chamber has recently partnered with Yiftee, a national community gift card provider, to power our Gift Local eGift Card Program. The Gift Local eGift Card is an effort by the Chamber to encourage consumers to shop local and help keep local dollars circulating in the region.

For more information or additional question, please visit www.Giftlocal.net or contact Lauren Goulet at 978.353.7600 ext. 222 or . 

 

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Chamber of Commerce | North Central Massachusetts | North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce | North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation (NCMDC) | Visit North Central Massachusetts | Giftlocal.net | E-Gift Cards

The Chamber’s economic development arm, the North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation (NCMDC), completed its fiscal year on September 30, 2022. The NCMDC works in partnership with local banks, credit unions, chambers of commerce and area nonprofits to support emerging microenterprises, small businesses, and community projects in North Central Massachusetts with loans and technical assistance. The NCMDC provided a total of 31 micro-loans for a total of $1,680,500. Of note, 74% of these loans were granted to historically underserved communities of minority, women or low income owned businesses. The loans ranged from $7,500 to $206,000. Our loans helped to leverage another $2,286,138 in bank financing and owner capital and resulted in the retention/creation of 174 jobs.

In addition to the loans, our economic development team also provided 1,162 hours of direct technical assistance and counseling to small businesses over the year. We also provided an additional 10 micro-grants, for a total $44,219.64, to support technical assistance needs of local small businesses. The average micro-grant awarded was $4,422.

Since the microloan program was established in the 1990s, the NCMDC has provided a cumulative total of 341 microloans totaling $11,642,617 which have helped create 620 jobs and retain another 846 jobs. The numbers do not include any fixed asset loans (SBA 504 loans) made during the early history of the NCMDC. When factoring in these loans, the NCMDC has made over $24 million in loans.

The NCMDC is certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) program and is a micro-loan intermediary for the U.S. Small Business Administration.

 

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Chamber of Commerce | North Central Massachusetts | North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce | North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation (NCMDC)

For those in the know, the distinctive diagonal white stripe on a red background displayed on Main Street in Downtown Leominster is a pleasant surprise. They immediately recognize the diver down flag used to alert vessels that scuba divers and snorkelers are underwater. “A lot of customers see the diver down flag while driving by and stop in to check us out,” say first-time small business owners Matt and Pam DeMar, who opened Descent Divers, only the second dive shop in Worcester County, to have fun and grow the local underwater community.

The shop’s prime location at 6 Main Street boasts floor space for an array of scuba diving merchandise, from face masks to flippers. Even more convenient is the space upstairs that serves as a classroom for the wide range of courses offered at Descent Divers. Some of those courses, like Open Water Diving, cater to beginners. But the DeMars also offer an array of specialized certification courses, from Rescue Diving to Night Diving, for more experienced divers. And for those who want to dive year-round closer to home, the shop’s certification courses in Full Face Mask Diving and Dry Suit Diving are big hits. Since scuba divers equipped with a full-face mask and dry suit leave nothing exposed to the elements, they can continue diving in local lakes or along the South Shore well after the traditional end of diving season in November.

Whichever course customers choose, it’s helpful to know that Descent Divers is affiliated with internationally recognized PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructors), which issues the scuba diving certifications. “Many of our courses are also ACE (American Council of Education) accredited,” adds Matt about the accreditation, which means that some courses can count as transferable college credits in physical fitness or environmental science.

Enriched air for longer dives
Matt is a certified scuba diving instructor who volunteered for years with Operation Blue Pride, a nonprofit based in Newton, MA, which offers free scuba training to veterans. So, he knows the ins and outs of diving and offers other essential services at Descent Divers, everything from repairing regulators to producing and selling enriched air nitrox (EANx). The enriched air tanks are essential to deep-water divers who run the risk of getting the bends, a potentially deadly nitrogen saturation in tissue that occurs when divers remain submerged for a long time. EANx increases the amount of oxygen in the tank up to 40% to minimize nitrogen intake. Luckily, the shop’s Main Street location also includes a basement that houses the compressor used to manufacture EANx. And the certification you need to purchase the enriched air? Descent Divers offers that non-dive training course right upstairs.

Seal pups, scallops and lobsters
“It’s amazing what you can see underwater even out here,” says Matt of New England’s waterways, which tend to be murkier than tropical destinations. Seeing seal pups play underwater is one of those amazing sights, while more adventurous souls can scuba dive for lobsters. Although picking up a lobster at your local grocer might be more convenient, Matt insists that “it’s more fun to dive for your own.” Rest assured, the shop offers essential gear for lobster diving, like squeeze-handle claw-proof bags and curved tickle sticks used to coax lobsters out of hiding.

Networking and community outreach
When it came to handling the logistics of opening a scuba diving shop, like booking pool time for underwater training, the couple say being members of the North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce was invaluable. “The Chamber is good about helping businesses network with other businesses and institutions in the area,” explains Pam. “Especially when we needed additional pool times, having those connections was very helpful.”

According to the owners of Descent Divers, their Chamber of Commerce membership is also great for community outreach since it connects them with community organizers, like those who might plan beach cleanups. “People often forget to clean up what’s in the water,” Matt cautions. “We’re eager to participate in those beach cleanups since we can dive underwater and pick up discarded litter that washes into the waterways.”

Whether you’re a seasoned scuba diver or want to get certified, the dive shop owners encourage you to stop by for a chat. “But bring a friend,” warns Matt. “You’ll need a dive buddy.”

Learn more
Stop by Descent Divers at 6 Main Street in Leominster, MA, or learn more about its extensive course offerings at descentdivers.com.
Email:
Phone: 978-230-7300

 

 

 

 

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Chamber of Commerce | North Central Massachusetts | North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce | North Central Massachusetts Development Corporation (NCMDC) | Visit North Central Massachusetts | Descent Divers

Source: State House News Service
Author: Chris Lisinski

Months of uncertainty about the fate of a multibillion-dollar spending package came to an end Thursday when Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law a $3.76 billion compromise bill that, to his disappointment, does not feature the tax relief Democrats once promised.

Baker used his veto pen to strike only $1.1 million from the bill’s bottom line and sent back two proposed changes dealing with certified nurses’ aide exams and retirement buybacks. He also vetoed two dozen outside sections, most dealing with in-state tuition retention language Baker said would be more appropriate in an annual budget or “considered as part of a comprehensive public higher education finance reform effort, not made piecemeal.”

Baker also struck down a section of the bill that would have created a special commission to examine “the potential negative environmental and economic impacts” of discharging radioactive spent fuel pool water, which lawmakers included as Holtec weighs dumping contaminated water into Cape Cod Bay in the process of decommissioning the former Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant.

The governor said that proposed panel’s work “would be duplicative of, and would interfere with, ongoing work on waste disposal and decommissioning issues by the responsible federal and state agencies.”

The most significant change Baker made is more or less an accounting one. He vetoed language setting a $510 million cap on the amount of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds that could be spent toward the bill’s goals, a move that the administration said would allow Massachusetts to prioritize committing its full pot of $2.3 billion in remaining ARPA money.

That veto does not change the legislation’s bottom line, but it will effectively shift around spending sources so that Gov.-elect Maura Healey and the Legislature will need to decide the fate of carried-forward surplus fiscal 2022 state tax revenues rather than untapped federal aid.

In his signing letter, Baker said he was “deeply concerned” that the proposed cap would have left that much ARPA money unused ahead of an end-of-2024 deadline to commit the full pot and an end-of-2026 deadline to spend it.

“It is imperative that the Commonwealth does not put these funds at risk through further delay in allocating them. Therefore, I am vetoing section 264, which would restrict ARPA-FRF spending to only $510 million,” Baker wrote. “This will allow the Commonwealth to allocate federal dollars first for uses as authorized in line items in this bill. Relative to the enacted bill, the same amount of money will remain unallocated, and that money will still be subject to appropriation, but it will be state money, and it will not expire.”

The bill will steer funding to a range of industries and toward numerous public programs. It includes $850 million in relief for financially strained hospitals, human services providers, nursing facilities, rest homes and community health centers as well as $200 million for the state’s ongoing COVID-19 response.

Other spending highlights include hundreds of millions of dollars for housing production and homeownership supports, $150 million for early education and care providers, $150 million for clean energy initiatives and $100 million for port infrastructure improvements.

The new law additionally provides the MBTA with another $112 million for critical work and safety improvements in the wake of a blistering Federal Transit Administration investigation, which found myriad problems and incurred mandatory corrective action plans. That money adds to $666 million lawmakers and Baker already approved for the T to address those issues.

“The significant investments in this bill will fortify health and human services, advance clean energy and resiliency efforts, expand affordable housing production, and support Massachusetts communities, businesses, and families,” Baker wrote.

Legislative leaders spent months weighing spending ideas and tax relief measures behind closed doors before both branches in July unanimously approved versions of the bill. Those drafts each included $500 million in one-time rebates for middle-income Bay Staters and authorized about half a billion dollars annually in permanent estate tax reforms and tax breaks for renters, seniors, caregivers and others.

Top Democrats tossed their original plan back onto the shelf, however, when they learned in late July that Massachusetts owed taxpayers nearly $3 billion in relief under a 1986 voter-approved tax cap law. The compromise they revived after months of inaction featured none of the previously approved tax reforms as legislative leaders warned about an uncertain economic future.

“As I have also previously expressed, I was disappointed that permanent tax relief reforms were not included in this bill. The measures that I proposed in January and that were supported by the Legislature in earlier versions of this bill are affordable and sorely needed by Massachusetts taxpayers,” Baker wrote in his signing letter. “Recognizing the importance of childcare investments, I am approving sections in this bill that redirect $315 million from the Commonwealth Taxpayer Relief Fund to the High-Quality Early Education & Care Affordability Fund. However, we can invest in childcare and make sensible tax changes at the same time. With the state in a historically strong fiscal position, the tax cuts that the Legislature has committed to prioritizing next session will be affordable without a special set-aside.”

In addition to authorizing spending for economic development goals, the bill includes measures that will allow Comptroller William McNamara to close the state’s financial books on the fiscal year that ended June 30.

McNamara under state law faces an Oct. 31 deadline to file an annual financial report, but delayed action on the closeout budget pushed his work past that date.

 

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Chamber of Commerce | North Central Massachusetts | North Central Massachusetts Chamber of Commerce | Community Development | Economic Development | Legislative Issues | Government Affairs | Elected Officials