Engineering shortage hurts CNY

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Oct 08, 2004 by Spohr, George

SYRACUSE - Upstate is competing on a national level to attract and retain highly qualified engineers needed to fill sudden increases in job openings.

Labor analysts say the region's engineering shortages only will be solved by retaining engineering students here upon graduation, retraining engineers to fill new jobs, and recruiting on a national level.

"Anytime you're looking for a highly specific skill for an engineer, it does require a nationwide job search, whether you're 'in Syracuse or Timbuktu," says Roger Evans, principal economist at the New York State Department of Labor's Syracuse office.

But if the region can convince graduates of institutes such as Binghamton University, Cornell University, or Clarkson University - all known for their engineering programs - to stay here after graduation, it might not have to rely so heavily on national recruitment efforts, speculates Patrick Doyle, executive director of the Greater Binghamton Coalition.

"We need to have a comprehensive Upstate strategy for retaining younger workers," Doyle says. "That's a tough challenge, because the Upstate region is really eight or nine separate economies."

In one of those economies, Utica/Rome's, the engineering shortage isn't as pronounced as it is in other parts of the region, says Mark Barbano, regional economist at the Department of Labor's Utica office.

"My gut reaction is that we wouldn't be having as bad a shortage as the Southern Tier," Barbano says. "Right now, we don't really have those industries here" who are looking for engineers.

But in Syracuse, Watertown, and Binghamton, it's a problem that has to be addressed by economic developers, says Tammy Farnham, senior technical recruiter for ENSCO, Inc. of Endicott.

Last year, ENSCO, a research, development and informationtechnology company that relies heavily on engineers, created 140 engineering positions.

"But we still have about 40 openings," says Farnham, whose firm employs about 400 in Endicott. "And what we've been doing is reaching out beyond the Central New York region. We're recruiting both experienced technical professionals, retirees, as well as some recent college graduates. It has become more difficult lately."

While colleges from Canton south to Binghamton are churning out hundreds of engineers each year, many aren't sticking around, forcing companies like ENSCO to recruit from New England, the Midwest, and Florida, Farnham says.

But it's not that Upstate lacks engineers, says Joseph Kozlowski, regional economist at the Department of Labor's Binghamton office. It's that companies are looking for very specific kinds of engineers, and as such the phrase "engineering shortage" might be a misnomer.

That's an assertion supported by state occupational projection statistics, which show that Binghamton had 4,890 engineers in 2000, a number that's projected to decrease to 4,660 by 2010.

"We have information about applicants and openings, and what this is showing is 130 applicants were registered with the Department of Labor in October in the Southern Tier, and there were 141 job openings," Kozlowski says. "What I can tell you is there are employers that are having a hard time selling some of those openings."

Openings hard to fill

But as Binghamton's economy continues to improve, companies like ENSCO likely will continue having a hard time filling positions, Kozlowski adds. "We're seeing the economy improving locally. We anticipate the demand for engineers to be strong for the remainder of the year."

Pail of the reason Binghamton's economy is improving so rapidly compared to Utica's is that Binghamton's economy is less diverse, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Binghamton's strengths include electronics manufacturers, such as Endicott Interconnect Technologies (EIT) and ENSCO, and defense contractors, such as Lockheed Martin Corp. Both industries are on the verge of rapid growth, says the Federal Reserve, which lists Binghamton, Rochester, and Niagara Falls as Upstate's least diverse economies.

Lockheed Martin is looking for an unspecified number of engineers in Owego, outside Binghamton, on the heels of its earning a $6 billion, network-services contract with the U.S. Postal Service. And 40 employees will be hired at its Syracuse facility, thanks in part to its earning $625 million in radardevelopment contracts.

Barbano suspects Utica - which has one-third as many engineers as Binghamton even though the metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) are the same size - might be in need of engineers had Lockheed Martin not closed its operation there.

"We used to have a Lockheed Martin, but that closed down and moved out," he says. "We do have a need for engineers at the Rome Lab at [the former] Griffiss Air Force Base, but those are federal jobs" that aren't filtered through Barbano's office.

The Mohawk Valley's 1,450-strong engineering work force in 2000 was expected to increase only minimally, to 1,460 by 2010, according to state projections.

By contrast, Binghamton's number is so high that it even eclipses Syracuse's, state data show. That MSA's 4,350-strong engineering work force in 2000 was expected to increase to 4,420 by 20 10, a 1.7-percent increase.