The North Bay is enjoying its best economic times in years, but employers can expect ongoing trouble finding workers as baby boomers retire and millennials leave the region so they can afford to buy homes.
That was the message business leaders gave Wednesday morning to the North Bay Leadership Council, a collection of employers who promote economic development. The event drew about 150 business, civic and elected leaders to the Sheraton Hotel in Petaluma.
Keynote speaker Micah Weinberg, president of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, a regional think tank, said the North Bay is enjoying “the top of the market” in terms of the current economic cycle. The region is basically at full employment, because those who remain without jobs generally lack the skills needed for the positions businesses are seeking to fill.
But the region’s tech sector didn’t get a boost from the robust growth that came to San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Instead, tech jobs in Sonoma County have declined 22 percent since 2000, a drop others have attributed to the dot-com bust and the exodus of tech jobs overseas.
Also, he said, the high cost of housing has made it difficult for many residents around the state to make ends meet.
“California has the highest rate of poverty in the nation” when adjusted for cost of living, Weinberg said. Housing costs are so high in Marin County that a family of four with an annual income of $105,350 qualifies as low income under federal criteria.
Over the next seven years, the state predicts the North Bay sectors with the most employment growth will be office and administrative support and food preparation and serving-related occupations.
Weinberg said those sectors generally offer lower-paying positions and he suggested business leaders may want to spur job growth in tech and other higher-paying sectors.
He also noted a survey released this spring by the Bay Area Council, a business development group that supports his institute, which found nearly half of Bay Area millennials are thinking of leaving the region. Those younger adults, ages 18-39, still want a house of their own, Weinberg said, and too often they find “there are no single-family homes to move into in the Bay Area.”
In a subsequent panel of business leaders, Jim Geist, a regional vice president for the staffing firm Nelson & Associates, said finding workers today is “brutal” for employers.
Those seeking skilled workers “have to take them from another employer,” he said. For example, businesses seeking an accountant now making $60,000 a year may have to offer $70,000.
Another speaker, Hamish Gray, a senior vice president for Santa Rosa’s Keysight Technologies, said the test and measurement company will have hundreds of workers retiring here in the coming years.
Keysight will find new engineers to replace those that retire, he said. But replacing technicians will be difficult, because they will become increasingly in demand as more electronic products require someone skilled to install, maintain or repair them.
“We will all be competing for the same people,” Gray said.
Sonoma County Office of Education Joins North Bay Leadership Council
in Featured, UncategorizedNorth Bay Leadership Council is pleased to announce that the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE) is its newest member. Education is the top public policy priority of NBLC and the addition of SCOE strengthens its public policy work by bringing more focus on and understanding of the K-12 educational system.
NBLC’s board chair, Patty Garbarino, said “There is great alignment between the mission of SCOE and NBLC. Both organizations want to foster student success so there is a well-educated, career-ready workforce. We are excited to be able to work more closely with the K-12 educators on this important mission.”
SCOE is a partner to the county’s 40 districts, providing services and oversight that help them serve roughly 71,000 students. The day-to-day operations of each public school district are overseen by a district superintendent and an elected board of education. Like the other 57 county offices of education in California, the Sonoma County Office of Education’s role is to provide leadership, support, and fiscal oversight to the county’s school districts.
Sonoma County is divided into 40 school districts for kindergarten through twelfth-grade (K-12) educational services. There are 31 elementary, 3 high school, and 6 unified districts. Unified districts operate both elementary and secondary schools for the students residing within their boundaries.
The county’s school districts vary in size, serving both rural and urban areas. The smallest district in the county, Kashia, is located in a rural area and has about 11 students. The largest district, Santa Rosa City High, enrolls over 11,000 students in the county’s most populous city.
The member representative is Steven D. Herrington, Ph.D., who was elected Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools in 2010. He believes that one of the best ways to maximize support for education is through community-linked collaborative projects. Dr. Herrington said, “Given SCOE’s interest in community engagement and desire to collaborate with employers on improving student success, it is a good fit for us to join NBLC and work together on these goals.”
As County Superintendent, he received on behalf of SCOE a special recognition by the White House for SCOE’s Maker Certificate program for teachers and serves as state officer in the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCESA).
North Bay Leadership Council’s 2017 State of the North Bay Conference
in FeaturedThe North Bay is enjoying its best economic times in years, but employers can expect ongoing trouble finding workers as baby boomers retire and millennials leave the region so they can afford to buy homes.
That was the message business leaders gave Wednesday morning to the North Bay Leadership Council, a collection of employers who promote economic development. The event drew about 150 business, civic and elected leaders to the Sheraton Hotel in Petaluma.
Keynote speaker Micah Weinberg, president of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute, a regional think tank, said the North Bay is enjoying “the top of the market” in terms of the current economic cycle. The region is basically at full employment, because those who remain without jobs generally lack the skills needed for the positions businesses are seeking to fill.
But the region’s tech sector didn’t get a boost from the robust growth that came to San Francisco and Silicon Valley. Instead, tech jobs in Sonoma County have declined 22 percent since 2000, a drop others have attributed to the dot-com bust and the exodus of tech jobs overseas.
Also, he said, the high cost of housing has made it difficult for many residents around the state to make ends meet.
“California has the highest rate of poverty in the nation” when adjusted for cost of living, Weinberg said. Housing costs are so high in Marin County that a family of four with an annual income of $105,350 qualifies as low income under federal criteria.
Over the next seven years, the state predicts the North Bay sectors with the most employment growth will be office and administrative support and food preparation and serving-related occupations.
Weinberg said those sectors generally offer lower-paying positions and he suggested business leaders may want to spur job growth in tech and other higher-paying sectors.
He also noted a survey released this spring by the Bay Area Council, a business development group that supports his institute, which found nearly half of Bay Area millennials are thinking of leaving the region. Those younger adults, ages 18-39, still want a house of their own, Weinberg said, and too often they find “there are no single-family homes to move into in the Bay Area.”
In a subsequent panel of business leaders, Jim Geist, a regional vice president for the staffing firm Nelson & Associates, said finding workers today is “brutal” for employers.
Those seeking skilled workers “have to take them from another employer,” he said. For example, businesses seeking an accountant now making $60,000 a year may have to offer $70,000.
Another speaker, Hamish Gray, a senior vice president for Santa Rosa’s Keysight Technologies, said the test and measurement company will have hundreds of workers retiring here in the coming years.
Keysight will find new engineers to replace those that retire, he said. But replacing technicians will be difficult, because they will become increasingly in demand as more electronic products require someone skilled to install, maintain or repair them.
“We will all be competing for the same people,” Gray said.