30,000 New Jobs Projected in Next Five Years

Too many jobs, not enough workers. The metro is projected to need an additional 30,000 workers in the next five years.

That is the finding of a new report on the current workforce by an independent company out of Texas.

The report consists of six months of research, surveys, focus groups and interviews about the regional workforce.

Results show that the F-M area currently has more than 67-hundred job openings.

They say the biggest hurdle to filling all of the projected new jobs will be adequate wages.

“I think it’s something that has to be looked at from a more comprehensive standpoint and that is to say instead of doing it incrementally I think a lot of companies that are really struggling to find people to work have to look at that seriously and say we’re probably not offering enough,” says President and CEO of the FM Convention and Visitors Bureau Charley Johnson.

“In those low wage earner areas where we have issues, it’s hard to have somebody transition from one community or state to another at 7 or 8 dollars an hour,” says Jim Gartin, President of the Greater Fargo Moorhead Economic Development Corp.

The groups are also coming up with ways to make the area’s colder temperatures more appealing by adding a winter festival and other activities.