Lautman addresses ED paradigm shift

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Economic development consultant Mark Lautman was in Van Wert on Thursday to talk about an economic development paradigm shift related to the approaching retirement of the Baby Boomers. Lautman’s presentation was part of a Van Wert County economic development kick-off held in the Kenn-Feld Group’s new training center.

Lautman, author of a book entitled When the Boomers Bail: A Community Economic Survival Guide, talked to approximately 40 local business, government and development representatives about what he sees happening as the 78 million members of the Baby Boom generation retire and communities are forced to find new workers to replace them.

The good news, Lautman said, is that there will be plenty of good jobs available for those qualified to fill them. For the Van Wert County community, which is just now returning to the lower unemployment numbers it had prior to the 2008 recession, having jobs for those unemployed is a plus. The bad news, though, is there aren’t enough qualified workers for the huge number of jobs that will come open over the next decade or so.

Lautman, a consultant with three decades of experience as a professional economic developer who has designed and managed four ED programs and helped create more than 15,000 new jobs, talked about the future need for qualified workers to fill the shoes of retiring Baby Boomers, who he said, humorously, are to blame for not having enough children to replace them in the job market.

The large number of retiring workers, coupled with the number of high-skill jobs those workers held, is creating a big problem for communities with jobs to fill — and no one to fill them. County businesses are already seeing a portion of this problem, with local businesses having trouble finding qualified workers for their higher-skilled jobs — or even those able to pass a drug screen.

Lautman provided a series of helpful suggestions for U.S. communities faced with the need to find qualified workers as Boomer jobs come open, noting ED staffers will need to do three things to survive the paradigm shift:

• Elevate ED programs from tactical solutions to strategic solutions.
• Integrate workforce development programs
• Innovate to find new solutions to the new ED problems

Lautman said that, in the near future, community ED staffs may have to look at being housing developers, as well as working with community educators to develop programs that will train workers for higher-skill jobs.

Some communities, he added, are already facing workforce shortages, forcing them to steal workers from other communities to fill jobs vacated by Baby Boomers. Lautman added that education partnerships with community colleges and other educational institutions could be key to whether communities can retrain enough young workers for the large number of jobs that will become available.

Lautman’s presentation concluded with a question-and-answer session.