WBJ Economic Forecast: Workers will be the key to a robust economy
Courtesy | UMass Amherst
Mark Melnik, director of Economic and Public Policy Research at the Donahue Institute in UMass Amherst
The pandemic has disrupted employment across the Worcester region, but better days are likely at hand, a panel of experts said this morning during the WBJ Economic Forecast Forum webinar.
In the two years following the COVID-19 lockdowns in March 2020, the pandemic has undermined every aspect of the economy with labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and changes in employee mentalities. Just as state and national economies were building robust and upward momentum, they were halted again by new variants, particularly Omicron. While the new economic landscape molded by the pandemic presents many uncertainties, it also revealed many pre-existing vulnerabilities that need to be changed for long-term sustainability.
During WBJ’s Tuesday online Economic Forecast Forum 2022, economists and panelists discussed their outlooks on the economy as they analyzed factors such as unemployment numbers, social factors, higher education, and manufacturing. While the panelists discussed the unique challenges facing their individual fields, they all agreed that growth cannot occur without workers and a strong labor force, which was reduced by the pandemic and an aging Baby Boomer generation who retired early en masse.
“We are not technology first or core competency first; we are people first, and we have to be in our industry because we are taking and developing technologies in very early research stages at university and technology labs and we are transitioning those technologies into full commercial entities,” said Aaron Birt, co-founder and CEO of Solvus Global about the importance of focusing on individual laborers.
Birt further revealed that immigrant workers are the backbone of the manufacturing industry and that COVID travel restrictions have exacerbated the labor shortage issues.
Mark Melnik, director of Economic and Public Policy Research at the Donahue Institute in UMass Amherst, spoke about how difficult it is to predict the future when public health defines the economy. During the pre-pandemic world, Massachusetts established itself as a hub for knowledge base industries such as tech and biomanufacturing which provided a strong local economy, but this growth was unequal when compared to other rural sectors of the state.
This financial gap between geographical areas only grew during the pandemic and also demonstrated social disparities, particularly among women, people of color, and those with limited educational attainment. These populations typically work in service-based industries and faced exceptionally high unemployment rates as the lockdowns crippled their work opportunities.
“What we really found with COVID was that it was really a great revealer of social inequality,” said Melnik.
Higher education is a strong determiner of the local, regional economy. David Fithian, president of Clark University in Worcester, spoke about the difficult balancing act employers face in becoming more accessible to first-generation, people of color, and immigrant populations while also remaining competitive to attract a talented workforce, all while dealing with the increasingly expensive costs brought by inflation.
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
Curious that one major driver in the current labor shortage crisis is in not offering a livable wage and benefits. That means above the current $15/hr which falls woefully short and appears was either not discussed or, if so, then not reported on.
1 Comments