Since 2008, U.S. and Huntington County workforce has been declining

The workforce in Huntington County has been steadily declining since around 2008, according to data gathered by the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business found at www.stats.indiana.edu.

The annual average workforce was nearly 20,200 people in 2008, but has since declined to an annual average of almost 18,600 people in 2014.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines the workforce as people 16 years old or older who either have a job or are looking for a job.

Rick Farrant, director of communications for Northeast Indiana Works, said retirement was a factor in this decline.

"We are retiring at a fairly fast clip," he said. "Fully 20 percent of all current workers across all industries are at or near retirement age."

Some industries, Farrant added, are even higher. Public education, for example, is at 28 percent, private education is at 27 percent and truck transportation is at 26 percent.

Tom Wall, president of the Huntington County Commissioners, agreed retirement was most likely part of the reason for the low workforce, adding he sees a lot of people taking early retirement.

"We have a lot of people retiring in our community and I'm not sure if we're keeping up with new workers coming in," he said. "Huntington County is a great place to retire but we need people to work in the restaurants and the factories and municipal services."

Farrant said a big problem is that young people are not replacing the retiring baby boomers because there aren't as many of them and because of a lack of skills.

"One of the things we have been trying to encourage throughout the region is for people, whether they are currently employed or about to go into the workforce, is to enhance their workforce skills to meet the demands of employers," he said.

Across Northeast Indiana, Farrant said there are hundreds if not thousands of jobs available for people with skills and even some entry-level jobs that won't need higher levels of skill.

The region needs to attract and retain talent, especially young talent, he said. There are several initiatives in place to help with attraction and retention of talent, he added, such as working on quality-of-life issues and also touting the availability of good-paying jobs in the region.

While the workforce may be dropping, the unemployment rate is also dropping, standing at 4.3 percent in May.

There are also plenty of jobs available for people who can pass a drug test are willing to learn, Wall said.

"I think our wages are very good right now for what workforce is available to work," he said. "So, having a low unemployment rate is very good for a community but there is also the fact that we need more people to work."

Wall said there is housing and good jobs available in all sectors.

One problem facing the community, he added, is finding people with the skills to fill those jobs, which is why the city and county teamed up for the Huntington County learning center.

Huntington City Mayor Brooks Fetters said the learning center is "that piece that is truly going to help us with the skills gap issue."

"People need skills to be welders, they need skills for building trade, they need skills for C and C operations and soldering," he said.

Fetters added another factor in the decreasing workforce is people who don't work because of addiction problems or issues with work ethic.

"Sadly, there's not much that can be done with that other than people taking responsibility and getting the help they need to overcome those challenges," he said.