Employers struggle to find workers in North Idaho

COUER D’ALENE – A booming construction industry and a decline in the number of job seekers has employers in North Idaho paying more to lure and retain workers.

“The biggest change is it’s gone from an employer’s market to an employee’s market,” Mark Qualley, vice president and manager of Humanix Personnel Services in Coeur d’Alene, told the Coeur d’Alene Press. “Employers have to change how they treat folks – get creative in their recruiting efforts.”

Employers are looking for construction and landscaping workers, including laborers for cleanup and snow removal, said Gretchen Crofford, branch manager at Labor Ready in Coeur d’Alene.

She said with fewer workers willing to take those jobs, wages have been rising – up from $6 an hour in April to at least $7 now.

“We’re sending out 200 to 300 a week, but during the summer it could have been 300 to 400,” said Crofford. “It’s been a struggle most of the year to find people.”

Idaho’s unemployment rate has dropped from 4.5 percent to 3.6 percent since November 2004, frustrating employers and agencies trying to land workers from a shrinking pool. To tap that pool, employers have tried mini job fairs through the Idaho Commerce and Labor office.

Ricia Lasso, a supervisor at Commerce and Labor, said employers are also discovering that retaining employees by paying them more is better for profits than having to train new workers.

“Turnover affects the bottom line,” she said. “By raising wages, profits will go up.”

In the construction industry, unskilled workers earn about $8.50 to $10 an hour. Competition for those workers is fierce.

“It’s been that way all year,” said Rob Packard, manager of Industrial Personnel in Sandpoint, which finds workers for the wood products industry and a food processing plant. “There are more jobs than people. It’s difficult to make a living at $9 an hour, but it does get their foot in the door.”