‘Change’ is the word to describe the CNY economy
By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
With the reverberations lingering from the COVID-19 pandemic, skyrocketing student loan debt and the future Micron development, Central New Yorkers will see some professions growing rapidly in the coming years.
Commission sales
Overwhelming school loan debt has motivated many recent graduates to seek positions that provide higher pay — and away from those that don’t pay as well, fulfilling as they may be. For example, working as an occupational therapist at a daycare would pay nearly half that of a similar position at a healthcare facility because it involves an educational institution.
“For sales positions, it’s an economic incentive as these jobs have higher pay because of commission,” said Elvis Mehmedovic, franchise owner of Express Employment in Syracuse.
Administrative
One of the major shifts in employment during the pandemic was away from in-person work and toward remote work, known as work-from-home (WFH). Of course, only certain types of positions may be WFH, which means that more people seeking WFH are seeking this kind of work.
“There’s been a lot of demand for positions as administrative assistants, data positions and HR,” Mehmedovic said. “It’s a lot more of the younger generation who particularly want work-from-home jobs.”
Trades
Because of the longstanding trend of pushing young people to attend college, fewer people work in hands-on trades, such as electrical, plumbing, masonry, and CDL driving. The need to train more people for this type of work is a concern of Randy Wolken, MACNY president and CEO.
“Our members are looking for technicians today,” he said. “Many are on-the-job trained skills. CNC machining, welding, electrical, mechanical: they’re in burning hot demand. Into the future, those same trades specific to advanced manufacturing and semiconductors are growing. We’re already seeing it in the Mohawk Valley and it will come in CNY. It’s driving hiring.”
Many companies have developed 18-month apprenticeship programs to fill the need. Wolken said that the growth in fields like technology, including biotech, defense, energy and AI are driving the demand for these workers.
“You’re seeing significant growth in AI and other forms of technology,” he added.
He noted that Micron’s projected $100 billion investment should bring 2,500 to 5,000 people on site and will also bring additional jobs to the community to increase necessary infrastructure.
“It’s a massive amount of work,” Wolken said. “We’re hoping a lot of people in the community seeing more employment.”
Whether at Micron or elsewhere, the jobs slated to grow this decade include many hands-on positions, according to Karen Knapik-Scalzo, analyst with the New York State Department of Labor Division of Research & Statistics in Syracuse.
“There is strong demand for construction workers, i.e., construction laborers, operating engineers and other construction equipment operators, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, HVAC workers, heavy and tractor trailer truck drivers,” Knapik-Scalzo said. “Demand is also strong for STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) occupations including engineers (civil, electrical, industrial etc.), technicians, software developers, data scientists and others.”
Healthcare
The pandemic both highlighted and exacerbated the pre-existing healthcare staffing crisis. An estimated 20% of healthcare workers left the industry during the pandemic. The older baby boomers are retiring without sufficient new workers replacing them.
“The large healthcare sector also needs more workers across the board including registered nurses, dental hygienists, pharmacists, home health aides and personal care aides, among others,” Knapik-Scalzo said.
Service positions
Work that involves serving others typically involves long hours, sometimes low pay and may have inherent risks. As baby boomers retire, fewer workers seek to fill these openings. Knapik-Scalzo said that locally, teachers, bus drivers, police officers, and vocational rehabilitation counselors represent more examples of careers where employers are hiring to replace retiring boomers.
