NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Jeremy Hill, Director of the Center For Economic Development And Business Research at Wichita State University is still optimistic about job growth in Kansas, even though finding workers is hard.
"The labor market is getting tighter and tighter," Hill said. "Because it's getting tighter, employers, when they go out and look, they are getting, not the preferred candidate, not their second candidate, they are dipping way down into the barrel and getting some of these people that they just don't see as qualified, or having other issues related to absenteeism, things like that. The amount of labor available is very constrained, particularly in Kansas, but that doesn't mean that's going to remain that way."
The bounce back from the pandemic caused higher growth in 2021, but even regression to the average is still decent news if you're looking for work.
"In October and at my revisions just here in January, I'm expecting it to slow down, just because of those broad issues that's going on in the global economy and the U.S. economy and those labor constraints, but both of them, I expect to grow, actually closer to our historic average. That's actually a very positive expectation."
That average is around 0.6% growth in 2023.
"There are jobs that aren't going to come back and we created new jobs," Hill said. "The labor market has really been trying to catch up to where firms want to be, where they see the demand. That takes a lot of time, for the labor market to heal. That means people have to get training and education and move to new jobs and as we slow down, there are a lot of people who left the labor market thinking the stock market is going to do well and their portfolios are doing good, that are probably going to re-enter."
Fixing health issues and childcare issues for those who didn't feel secure enough to work due to the pandemic is an important key to seeing this growth happen.
"There's other dynamics of the cost of childcare and things like that, that clearly are policy barriers that are preventing more people to enter the labor market," Hill said. "You see that in markets like Hutchinson. You even see that in more extremes in smaller and smaller communities, where the second person would like to go, but the cost is so prohibitive."
Hill will be in Hutchinson Feb. 7 from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Crystal Ballroom at The Burt for the 2023 Kansas Economic Outlook Conference's Reno County stop.