Skilled labor shortage a growing problem in La Crosse

City planner has more on plate than long-range building plans this year.

It’s not one of the first things one would think a city planner has to account for. It is, however, one of the biggest issues for 2017 in La Crosse.

Sure, La Crosse’s city planner Jason Gilman has plenty of long range building plans to look this year. Plans for the north side. Plans for the south side. Plans for the Riverside North development.

One of his biggest challenges, however, is working on strategies to help solve the area’s skilled labor shortage problem.  A problem that’s growing.

“Just the information that we’re getting from our business people, is they’re having a harder time finding qualified applicants for openings,” Gilman said. “(It’s a) combination of things that are pointing to a major retraction, which includes the aging demographic and smaller family size.”

Many economists have held that an ongoing national skilled labor shortage is the biggest obstacle to American economic growth and development. 

“There’s a lot of different data sets that you can point to that show what we have ahead of us is going to be challenging,” Gilman said. “This is a prevalent trend throughout, maybe, many labor markets in the upper midwest and that creates higher levels of competition in the market.”