Valley's Skilled Workforce, Shovel-Ready Sites Key To Recent Business Successes
March 24, 2022
Valley's Skilled Workforce, Shovel-Ready Sites Key To Recent Business Successes
Casey Armstrong, assistant Rockingham County administrator and director for economic development, gives a presentation about the county's previous year and future in economic development Friday. In this slide is a picture of what the new part of the Merck facility in Elkton will look like after the $1 billion investment is complete.
Melissa Lubin, the vice chair of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, gives her presentation at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce 2022 Outlook event at the Hyatt Place hotel in the city.
In the last 12 months, hundreds of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars have been announced for projects in the Shenandoah Valley.
Valley business leaders discussed the elements that blended together to create these successes in the region and the challenges for the next 12 months and beyond at the Hyatt Place hotel in Harrisonburg Friday morning. The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce convened the 2022 Economic Outlook Summit.
The skilled workforce that comes from the area's colleges was a key selling point to get Merck to dedicate $1 billion for an expansion of its Elkton site in 2019 and the role colleges and technical centers have still continue, according to Casey Armstrong, assistant county administrator and director for economic development of Rockingham County.
Land available for quick construction of large projects has also helped entice companies looking for a spot to put their food or distribution facility and continued investment in creating shovel-ready sites is important to maintaining that draw, according to said Melissa Lubin, the vice chair of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, in her presentation.
The founding basis of the skilled workforce and sites is built on the Valley's agriculture backbone and the Interstate 81 corridor, which help create the opportunities for large projects such as the Amazon distribution warehouse slated for Fisherville and new food centers such as Shenandoah Valley Organic's new packaging plant in the city and the forthcoming Italian meats facility on the edge of Rockingham, just outside city limits.
"These are the kind of companies that match what we're trying to do as a region," Lubin said. "So we're not only attracting new businesses and expanding our businesses, but we're doing it right and we're doing what fits the Valley, and I think that's a key component to really distinguishing ourselves in this region."
Many of the issues discussed at the summit included topics that employers have become familiar with, even before the pandemic, such as the difficulty in finding workers.
This issue can go by many names and is likely to last going forward, according to Jason El Koubi, who was interim president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership when he spoke at the Hyatt Friday. Later that day, he was appointed to take on the role as the director of the state's economic development authority.
"I think this labor market contraction, whatever you want to call it — the war for talent, the tight labor market — I think we're going to be dealing with that for awhile," El Koubi said. "And one of the things that you're seeing right now is many businesses investing heavily in capitol improvements, in automation and technology that enable them to be successful with fewer" people.
Demand for employees drives competition between employers, resulting in higher wages and increased benefits for workers, but also limiting business growth, according to economic experts and business representatives.
"The worker has a lot of power right now," El Koubi said.
El Koubi said the increased automation is not just because companies realize they're having to pay more for labor now.
"It's partly because they're looking out 10 years, like you, and are saying 'OK, we've got to figure out a better way to do this,'" El Koubi said.
Director for Economic Development in Harrisonburg Brian Shull pointed out in his presentation though the unemployment rate has nearly recovered in the city and the combined Harrisonburg-Rockingham area, there are still 3,000 fewer people in the workforce.
Local, regional and state economic development experts have said there are a variety of factors that could be contributing to a hesitancy for unemployed people to return to work, including transportation problems, child-care issues stemming from school or other institution closures and personal health concerns from the COVID-19 virus.
"Child care without a doubt is the number one issue," Lubin said.
Additionally, El Koubi said many of the country's older workers who decided to retire early at the beginning of the pandemic have truly left the labor force and don't seem likely to return.
Also discussed at the summit was the need not just for incentives to draw large economic developments to the area, but the need to have sites ready for development to increase a company's speed in ability of getting its product to market and being able to attract employees.
Real estate and housing is also a major player in companies' equations in figuring out where to set up a new factory or distribution center, according to the experts.
This is to the advantage of places such as Harrisonburg and Rockingham, where there is still room to grow and it is near metro areas that are rapidly becoming out of the price range for development even for some of the largest companies, according to El Koubi.
At the end of the event, a member of the audience asked El Koubi if he believed this year will bring a recession as interest rates rise, there is a war in Europe and other instability.
"All of the factors you have described lead to instability and as we know instability badly managed leads to crisis, and crisis is not good for the economy," El Koubi said. "So I think there's a lot of risk in the economics, not to mention the geopolitics. I will also say that if you look at history and when recessions visit the economy, we're kind of overdue now. I don't have a crystal ball and I have the same anxieties."
- By IAN MUNRO Daily News-Record
- Daily news Record | Mar 19, 2022
Casey Armstrong, assistant Rockingham County administrator and director for economic development, gives a presentation about the county's previous year and future in economic development Friday. In this slide is a picture of what the new part of the Merck facility in Elkton will look like after the $1 billion investment is complete.
Ian Munro / DN-R
Melissa Lubin, the vice chair of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, gives her presentation at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce 2022 Outlook event at the Hyatt Place hotel in the city.
Ian Munro / DN-R
Valley business leaders discussed the elements that blended together to create these successes in the region and the challenges for the next 12 months and beyond at the Hyatt Place hotel in Harrisonburg Friday morning. The Harrisonburg-Rockingham Chamber of Commerce convened the 2022 Economic Outlook Summit.
The skilled workforce that comes from the area's colleges was a key selling point to get Merck to dedicate $1 billion for an expansion of its Elkton site in 2019 and the role colleges and technical centers have still continue, according to Casey Armstrong, assistant county administrator and director for economic development of Rockingham County.
Land available for quick construction of large projects has also helped entice companies looking for a spot to put their food or distribution facility and continued investment in creating shovel-ready sites is important to maintaining that draw, according to said Melissa Lubin, the vice chair of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, in her presentation.
The founding basis of the skilled workforce and sites is built on the Valley's agriculture backbone and the Interstate 81 corridor, which help create the opportunities for large projects such as the Amazon distribution warehouse slated for Fisherville and new food centers such as Shenandoah Valley Organic's new packaging plant in the city and the forthcoming Italian meats facility on the edge of Rockingham, just outside city limits.
"These are the kind of companies that match what we're trying to do as a region," Lubin said. "So we're not only attracting new businesses and expanding our businesses, but we're doing it right and we're doing what fits the Valley, and I think that's a key component to really distinguishing ourselves in this region."
Many of the issues discussed at the summit included topics that employers have become familiar with, even before the pandemic, such as the difficulty in finding workers.
This issue can go by many names and is likely to last going forward, according to Jason El Koubi, who was interim president and CEO of the Virginia Economic Development Partnership when he spoke at the Hyatt Friday. Later that day, he was appointed to take on the role as the director of the state's economic development authority.
"I think this labor market contraction, whatever you want to call it — the war for talent, the tight labor market — I think we're going to be dealing with that for awhile," El Koubi said. "And one of the things that you're seeing right now is many businesses investing heavily in capitol improvements, in automation and technology that enable them to be successful with fewer" people.
Demand for employees drives competition between employers, resulting in higher wages and increased benefits for workers, but also limiting business growth, according to economic experts and business representatives.
"The worker has a lot of power right now," El Koubi said.
El Koubi said the increased automation is not just because companies realize they're having to pay more for labor now.
"It's partly because they're looking out 10 years, like you, and are saying 'OK, we've got to figure out a better way to do this,'" El Koubi said.
Director for Economic Development in Harrisonburg Brian Shull pointed out in his presentation though the unemployment rate has nearly recovered in the city and the combined Harrisonburg-Rockingham area, there are still 3,000 fewer people in the workforce.
Local, regional and state economic development experts have said there are a variety of factors that could be contributing to a hesitancy for unemployed people to return to work, including transportation problems, child-care issues stemming from school or other institution closures and personal health concerns from the COVID-19 virus.
"Child care without a doubt is the number one issue," Lubin said.
Additionally, El Koubi said many of the country's older workers who decided to retire early at the beginning of the pandemic have truly left the labor force and don't seem likely to return.
Also discussed at the summit was the need not just for incentives to draw large economic developments to the area, but the need to have sites ready for development to increase a company's speed in ability of getting its product to market and being able to attract employees.
Real estate and housing is also a major player in companies' equations in figuring out where to set up a new factory or distribution center, according to the experts.
This is to the advantage of places such as Harrisonburg and Rockingham, where there is still room to grow and it is near metro areas that are rapidly becoming out of the price range for development even for some of the largest companies, according to El Koubi.
At the end of the event, a member of the audience asked El Koubi if he believed this year will bring a recession as interest rates rise, there is a war in Europe and other instability.
"All of the factors you have described lead to instability and as we know instability badly managed leads to crisis, and crisis is not good for the economy," El Koubi said. "So I think there's a lot of risk in the economics, not to mention the geopolitics. I will also say that if you look at history and when recessions visit the economy, we're kind of overdue now. I don't have a crystal ball and I have the same anxieties."
