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Area sees job growth [UPDATED]
Published 10:56am Monday, January 30, 2012 Updated 2:35pm Thursday, March 8, 2012The economic malaise that settled on the United States in late 2008 seems to be lifting from Fergus Falls and Otter Tail County. Local economy observers and area unemployment numbers seem to agree: economic growth is the name of the game in the area.
“The Great Recession, as they say, has passed,” said Rick Schara, business service specialist at the Minnesota Workforce Center in Fergus Falls. “I think this has been a year for growth. I’ve heard from a lot of employers who are … cautiously optimistic.”
The numbers aren’t perfect, but they’re very good. Late summer and fall unemployment percentages in Fergus Falls and Otter Tail County fell to pre-recession depths, and November’s 4.5 percent was the lowest the city’s seen since October 2006.
On a month-to-month comparison, 2011’s unemployment numbers were lower than the corresponding months in 2009 and 2010 in every month except July, when the state government shutdown caused the rate to jump to 8.2 percent from June’s 7 percent (the 8.2 percent was still lower than 2009’s 9 percent rate in August). The drop began again in August, and in September numbers began hitting pre-recession levels.
It boils down to confidence, said Harold Stanislawski, executive director of the city’s Economic Improvement Commission (EIC).
“The companies have been a lot more stable in 2011 and early 2012,” Stanislawski explained, adding, “It’s a steady, slow progression back to economic health, if you will.”
The new jobs are coming from a many different sources, with particular growth in what Schara referred to as the “usual suspects” for local job creation: health care and manufacturing. Manufacturing demand has risen for local businesses, and Lake Region Healthcare has been hiring new physicians and other employees as it expands its services (including the construction of a new walk-in clinic, to be completed next month.
Close to 1,000 people were locally employed in the manufacturing industry in 2011, according to numbers released from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Also on the rebound are agriculture and retail.
“The ag community, which we are very blessed to be a part of here, has been strong,” said Schara. “I think that has helped the employment picture because when farmers are doing well, that trickle down helps others do well.”
The EIC is working to diversify that success, keeping its eyes on a number of economic programs that could help lure businesses to the area. Some recently-approved loan programs for businesses may help jump-start an entrepreneur or two, Stanislawski said, and he’s still promoting the city’s EB-5 zone classification, which encourages foreign investment in exchange for a green card.
“We just need to find the right company where that fits,” said Stanislawski.
Schara and Stanislawski expect further economic progress in 2012. Stanislawski has been fielding an increased number of calls from entrepreneurs thinking about starting a business in or near the city, and he expects the state budget forecast in February to be good – a factor he thinks could spur economic progress in Otter Tail County.
“We are a heavily government-oriented county,” he said.
The key to long-term growth is luring the next generation back to the area, said Schara.
“As I talk with other people who work in workforce, I think the challenge in our future is going to be a demographic one, where our senior classes are bigger than our kindergarten classes, the baby boomer bubble is going more into retirement, and we’ll be losing quite a few (retiring people),” Schara said. “(We need) to continue to develop the skills and workforce opportunities for people of working age.”
