(News Release) Gov. Jay Nixon joined U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver at a home in the Green Impact Zone in Kansas City today to announce a new youth employment initiative to help prepare more than 4,000 young Missourians for future careers while fighting teen unemployment. The 2010 Missouri Summer Jobs Program will connect youth ages 14-24 with paid internships and work experience at employers across the state.

The program is the second major summer youth employment initiative established by Gov. Nixon in 2010. The Governor’s State Parks Youth Corps, launched earlier this year, is placing approximately 1,300 young Missourians with jobs at state parks and historic sites across the state.

“Despite the clear signs of Missouri’s economic recovery, high unemployment among our youthful Missouri workforce remains a challenge,” Gov. Nixon said. “Through the Missouri Summer Jobs Program and its counterpart, the State Parks Youth Corps Program, we are turning that challenge into an opportunity for our young people. Through these programs, thousands of young Missourians will not only obtain a quality job for the summer, but will also gain invaluable workplace experience to help prepare them for 21st-century careers.”

Under Gov. Nixon’s leadership, the Missouri Department of Economic Development has obtained an expedited grant of $18 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to fund the new program. The program is tailored to meet the needs of young people who face overwhelming challenges, such as homeless and foster children and those with disabilities or economically distressed families.

Wages for each participant in the program will be set by the employer in conjunction with the local workforce investment board. Funding for the Missouri Summer Youth Program is made possible by federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

With the support of participating businesses and the guidance and career counselors from the state’s 14 workforce investment boards, the Missouri Summer Jobs Program builds on the previous success of a similar program. The Governor’s Next-Generation Jobs Team, a summer youth employment program from last year, put more than 7,000 Missouri youth to work with high-tech, cutting-edge employers around the state during the summer of 2009.

Gov. Nixon and Congressman Cleaver today visited a home in the Ivanhoe neighborhood in Kansas City, which is part of the Green Impact Zone. The Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council hired 10 youth workers last summer to repair sidewalks, undertake conservation projects and lead other efforts to enhance the quality of life and conservation practices in the neighborhood. After the summer, the council hired two of the youth on a full-time basis, and those youth have continued to work over the past year.

This year, those two youth will serve as mentors to ten participants in the Missouri Summer Jobs Program and lead similar projects throughout the neighborhood. Today, Gov. Nixon and Congressman Cleaver saw examples of these projects during their visit.

Following a busy holiday season and kickoff for 2010, regional leaders are ready for follow-up on strategies refined at the November regional visioning summit at Bentonville. The event includes a forum on economic recovery progress to kickoff the summit. Lunch and refreshments are included at no charge to attendees.

Summit Agenda:

• Focus Group Forum on Economic Recovery Progress (in conjunction with the Southern Growth Policies Board)
• Networking Lunch
• Recap of November Summit Outcomes
• Breakout Sessions on Next Steps
• Green Sector Survey
• Summit Closing and General Announcements

Interested  attendees may register online at the link below or send their contact information by email to scloyd@joplincc.com.  Questions or ideas for the summit may be directed to Jasen Jones by calling 417-206-1717 or by email to ceo@workforcezone.net.  For interested stakeholders not able to attend the event onsite, the WIB is planning to offer a live web video stream of the summit.  Remote viewers may sign-up and select the streaming option through the same registration link below.

• Register Online
• Campus/Area Map with Meeting Location (PDF)

Background for the February Summit

Stakeholders met previously in November at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Bentonville.   Guest moderators Jason Gatz and Tom Miller facilitated group discussions on the start of a SWOT analysis and emerging themes for regional planning based on targeted phone interviews of regional leaders.  Attendees provided valuable insights through breakout sessions on regional opportunities, priorities, and possible obstacles.  The February summit is set to debut a summary report of regional efforts to date.

Leading off the summit is a focus group forum session on regional economic recovery progress.    The February 19th opening session is held in collaboration with the Southern Growth Policies Board as part of a network of other community forums across a network of thirteen other southern states.  Titled, The Road to Recovery…Making Choices for Your Community, insights from the Four-States event at NEO are factored in the overall research report to southern states Governors and business leaders later in 2010.

Though layoffs persist, and job opportunities are limited, HR managers expect exempt and nonexempt hiring to outpace job cuts in both the manufacturing and service sectors this month, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) LINE® Report.

The SHRM LINE — Leading Indicators of National Employment — hiring index also shows a year-over-year positive gain of 37.8 points expected for manufacturing hiring during January, and 21.1 points for service sector hiring.

A closer look at manufacturing sector year-over-year numbers show that a net of 17.6 percent of surveyed companies plan to hire in January 2010 compared with the net of 20.2 percent that laid off workers in January 2009.

In the service sector, year-over-year numbers show a net of 11.3 percent of companies will add jobs in January of this year compared with the net of 9.8 percent that cut jobs same month last year.

The findings are detailed in the January 2009 SHRM LINE Report, a set of labor market indicators that tracks four national employment measures: (1) job expectations; (2) job vacancies; (3) new-hire compensation; and (4) recruitment difficulty. In short, LINE provides a snapshot of anticipated hiring for the month ahead and also examines data from the previous month.

“Albeit a slow rise, the small increase in job openings in both sectors is a sign that economic conditions may finally be starting to improve,” said Jennifer Schramm, manager of workplace trends and forecasting at SHRM. “Unsurprisingly, the new-hire compensation index is likely to remain flat as long as the number of job seekers for relatively few spots remains high and competition fierce.”

Are salaried job openings increasing?—Yes:

• Exempt vacancies (manufacturing sector) – December 2009 findings show a net total of 12.2 percent of HR professionals reported increases in exempt, primarily salaried, jobs available. (Specifically, 21.8 percent reported increases while 9.6 reported decreases.)
• Examined year-over-year, the manufacturing sector exempt vacancies represent a 25 point increase from December 2008, and the fifth straight month that exempt vacancies are higher compared to one year ago.
• Exempt vacancies (service sector) – A net total of 5 percent of firms reported an increases in exempt job vacancies in December. (Specifically, 13.5 percent reported increases while 8.5 percent reported decreases.)
• Examined year-over-year, the service sector exempt vacancies represent an 18.8 point increase from December 2008. The service sector, like the manufacturing sector, also experienced a fifth straight month during which exempt vacancies were higher compared to the previous year.

The vacancy rate for nonexempt jobs is up:

• Nonexempt vacancies (manufacturing sector) – December numbers show a net total of 7.7 percent of HR managers reported an increase in their company’s nonexempt, or hourly, employment vacancy rate. (Specifically, 17.6 percent reported increases while 9.9 percent reported decreases.)
• Examined year-over-year, the nonexempt employment vacancy rate for manufacturing jobs represents a 27.1 point increase from one year ago.
• Nonexempt vacancies (service sector) – A net total of 4.4 percent reported an increase in hourly job vacancies in December. (Specifically, 14.9 percent reported an increase while 10.5 percent reported a decrease.)
• Examined year-over-year, the December 2009 service sector nonexempt employment vacancy rate marks a 27.9 point increase from December 2008.

Trends in new-hire compensation packages and recruiting difficulty:

The new-hire compensation index reports previous month data. December 2009 numbers show more service sector companies increased new-hire salaries and benefits than reduced them. LINE data show that 2.5 percent of surveyed service sector HR professionals said their company increased compensation compared with 1.8 percent who reported decreases — a net total of 0.7 percent.

Compared year-over-year, the net total marks a decline from December 2008 when a net total of 4 percent of service companies increased new-hire compensation.

In the manufacturing sector, a net total of 0.1 percent of HR respondents said their company decreased new-hire compensation in December 2009, a number unchanged from December 2008. A closer look shows that the responses nearly cancel one another — 2.7 percent increased compensation packages last month while 2.8 reduced compensation packages.

The recruiting difficulty index shows HR managers had an easier time filling jobs during December 2008 than December 2009. “It could be that some categories of job seekers are finding work more quickly than they did a year ago,” said Schramm.

LINE is based on a monthly survey of human resource professionals at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 private service-sector companies. Together, these two sectors comprise more than 90 percent of America’s private sector employment.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 250,000 members in over 140 countries, the Society serves the needs of HR professionals and advances the interests of the HR profession. Founded in 1948, SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China and India. Visit SHRM Online at www.shrm.org.

• Presentation Slides (PDF)
• Resources/Links Handout from Session (PDF)
• Green Jobs Analysis April 2009 (PDF)

The St. Louis MO-IL MSA had a personal income increase of 5.6 percent. Joplin closely followed with a 5.5 percent increase as the second-highest across the Show-Me State.

Trendsights from the Missouri Department of Economic Development’s research division contains a comparison of Joplin and Missouri’s other metro areas.