EDITOR'S NOTE

Employment picture getting gray

Help wanted. We're fortunate to be in an economy where, at least for many fields, there is a need for trained, qualified workers.

Talking to business and education professionals for this issue of Ventures, our writers seemed to keep hearing those two adjectives — trained and qualified.

But employees also have to be able to afford to live close enough to their jobs that a commute is reasonable.

I suspect we all know people who work in the Seacoast area, particularly Portsmouth, who travel an hour or more from home to work. And, unlike Boston, the commuting time is not caused by traffic congestion, but economics.

So, the picture is not completely rosy. In fact, some people might say it is gray, as in an aging population that seems to be catering to itself at the cost of losing younger people with children, something that demographer Peter Francese has been warning of for some time now in his monthly Q&A with Ventures.

He does so again this month (see story) when he says, "There are town selectmen and planning board members in New Hampshire who actually brag about how many families with kids they have excluded from their town. No industry will benefit from that and neither will our work force or our economy."

But there are efforts under way to shore up the labor pool (see story.), with questions of whether what is being done will be enough.

Schools and business are working together to train and recruit skilled workers.

The state has created a $1 million job-training fund. The N.H. Business and Industry Association held a conference to discuss a "constricting labor pool."

The college system, particularly the community and technical schools are partnering with businesses, something Richard Gustafson, chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire called a "symbiotic relationship."

And education is something that employers value. (See story.)

They are going to be looking for workers who are more educated, more tech savvy and smart, and who possess even better communication skills.

And with that, according to Delise West of Human Resource Partners in Dover, companies large and small will be forced to deal with a range of workplace issues as diverse as the skill sets needed for the information-age work force.

One area where New Hampshire does well it would seem is in that of the employment of military veterans. (See story.)

There are approximately 78,000 veterans who are 20 or older in the state's labor force, with only about 3,000 who were unemployed during the course of the year.

Keeping these men and women employed, particularly those returning from active duty, is a source of pride at the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve in Concord. The state has about 4,500 Guard and Reserve members.

Some of the interesting people featured in this month's Ventures include: