WFDD Business Report Archive: The Search for Skills in the Triad Continues

Triad Business Report

The Search for Skills in the Triad Continues

February 24, 2012

Manufacturers in the region have long lamented the difficulty of finding qualified workers, who would be considered blue-collar, even as overall unemployment has remained high. Now, just last week, Inmar Inc. CEO David Mounts told Winston-Salem City Council members that his retail technology and reverse logistics firm, which is considering a major expansion in the city, is finding it difficult to fill a number of information technology jobs from the available pool of Triad workers. It’s something the firm has to consider for its future growth.

Of course, Mounts was in the process of requesting $1.75 million in economic incentives from the city to go along with more than $1 million from the county in return for the promise of keeping 686 existing jobs in the area and creating 212 new ones. (Both the city and county agreed to the requests, but Inmar’s decision is still pending.)

But while it’s true that Triad recruiters for tech experts and other skilled but desk-bound specialists are busier now than they have been for years, they’re not always finding the right person for the job.

Business Journal contributing writer and Wake Forest University Journalism Program Director Justin Catanoso surveys the Triad's 2012 blue, and white collar job hiring landscape with WFDD's David Ford.