Work here only if you want a good job

Vermont Business Magazine, Aug 01, 1998

Burger-flippers come home, good jobs await you in Vermont" is the siren song of economic development in Windsor and Orange counties, where relatively high-paying jobs in high-tech and the machine and tool industries are going begging, and where creating an educated and skilled work force for the area is a high priority.

Windsor and Orange counties begin north in Wells River and end south of Springfield. Some of their other important towns are Randolph, Royalton, Thetford, Woodstock and White River Junction. The towns in the counties that lie along the Connecticut River are also part of what is called the Upper Valley, which includes Lebanon, West Lebanon, and Hanover in New Hampshire.

"Now that we've got such good transportation up to Randolph on I-89 and up to Bradford on I-91, the whole area is one economic generator as far as industry is concerned," said Jill Michaels, an economic development consultant who focuses on the Connecticut River Valley.

From all reports, Windsor and Orange are enjoying a period of economic boom.

"Its an area that's been growing very quickly, even when the rest of the economy wasn't doing so well," Michaels said. "Now that Vermont and New Hampshire are doing well, you have tremendous growth in all centers, and that includes everything from retail on the New Hampshire side to the machine industry, which is experiencing a renaissance."

Unemployment is low in the Valley, according to the Department of Education and Training. As of June 1998, the Orange County unemployment rate was 2.1, with a labor force (employed and unemployed) of 15,650. In the same month in 1997, it was 2.3 percent. For Windsor, with a labor force of 30,550, the unemployment rate for June 1998 was 2.6, compared to 3.1 for June of 1997.

When the figures are broken down by towns, Hartford town showed an unemployment rate of 1.4 percent for June 1998, with the combined Hartford-New Hampshire market at 1.5 percent. Springfield and the surrounding towns were higher, with a 4.5 percent unemployment rate.

Finding skilled workers is the biggest problem in the area, Michaels said. (See sidebar)

"The Vermont side of the machine tool business estimates that upwards of 100 jobs could be filled if there were workers to fill them," Michaels said. "There's a very low unemployment rate. When you get down toward Springfield, it gets a little higher, but it's still very low.

"That's in part because there's so much demand for retail and hospitality workers. It's created a situation where there are a high number of people who are not employed to their full capacity, either hour-wise or skill-wise.

"One of the challenges is to get those folks into long-term jobs that make the best of their potential. We have to get them back from New Hampshire, where they're working at the malls and plazas, and into good jobs here."

The malls offer easy employment and look good to young people coming out of high school, Michaels said. "The machine tool industry requires a commitment to training that Kmart or McDonald's doesn't require," Michaels said. "But in addition to burger-flipping, here, right now, are lots of other interesting jobs that provide career paths. There are quite a few wood-working and glassblowing and pottery-making companies in the Upper Valley. They don't require a four-year college degree; some require just a high school degree."

SPRINGFIELD'S MACHINE INDUSTRY

Those who have an image of Springfield's machine industry as one of empty buildings, rusted equipment and an aging, desultory workforce, would be surprised at how well business is doing, said Hunter Banbury, president of Cone-Blanchard Corp in Windsor and vice-president of Park Corp in Ohio, which bought Cone-Blanchard in July of last year. The company now employs over 160 people in Vermont and reports sales in the $10 million to $50 million range.

"In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a combination of oil embargoes, the recession and other factors created a huge perspective that American industry was dying or unable to compete," Banbury said. "Nobody ever looked at it again as it started to rebound. And it very much did turn around."

According to Michaels, "The world has discovered that the best work in the machine tool industry has always been done in the Connecticut River Valley; they just forgot for a while. One of the challenges we have is turning the perception of the dying industry and the lack of job security around."

As the country's economy does well, the machine industry does well, Banbury said.

"Generally, the economy is doing well, and machine shops are growing across the country," Banbury said. "We're experiencing an increase in demand from our customers, which include machine shops and manufacturers, like automotive's Big Three, all the way down to mom-and-pop job shops doing sheet metal work. They are all investing for the future."

American manufacturing is making a rebound, Banbury said, "And our company, being a subsidiary of Park, feels a little more of that, because Park is involved in manufacturing all around the country."