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Rep. Harris Tours North East Company, Talks Workforce Needs at SWN Roundtable

April 20, 2017

NORTH EAST — In the last three years, Composites USA General Manager Dan Naugle has never hired anyone who's had a job.

All his workers have been previously unemployed, some are living in their cars and many are drug- or alcohol-dependent. Finding workers is so difficult that Naugle has set himself the modest goal of finding one or two good people a year.

"If I can get two people a year that I can have as a core — and I have a couple decent people out there already although I think they are alcohol-dependent — if I can get one or two drug-free people a year for four or five years, I can have a good core of 10 or 15 people," he said. "But it's tough."

Naugle relayed his concerns about the workforce to U.S. Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st District) when the congressman visited the company, which makes fiberglass reinforced plastics, on Thursday afternoon. After visiting Composites USA, Harris traveled down to Harford Community College to participate in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Susquehanna Workforce Network, a nonprofit focusing on workforce development in Cecil and Harford counties.

Composites USA, which has been located off Route 272 in North East since 1985, has major clients such as DuPont, Pennsylvania State University, Intel and Boeing, and primarily manufacturers products such as pipes and storage tanks out of fiberglass reinforced plastic. Unlike regular pipes and tanks, these ones are corrosive-resistant, which makes them ideal for companies that do a lot of work with chemicals, Naugle said.

While giving Harris a tour, which was also attended by representatives from the American Composites Manufacturers Association (ACMA), Naugle was proud to note that his company uses only American materials and doesn't import anything from overseas.

But while he pays his workers good wages — the average wage is $20.50 an hour — and has a low turnover rate, Naugle said he still has a hard time finding good employees. Part of the reason, he conceded, is that he has "medium-skill" jobs, which differ from the low-skill jobs offered by the many warehouses coming to the county and require more training. In addition, Naugle said it typically takes 18 months to fully train a worker, noting that small mistakes in production can end up costing his company tens of thousands of dollars.

He recently worked with SWN to hire three people out of one of its programs that is supposed to make unemployed people "hirable," Naugle said.

"One of them didn't show up the first day, one of them worked an hour and one of them worked a week," he said. "I thought I was doing a good thing, but I didn't get anything."

Naugle said he's heard similar concerns from other manufacturers in the area, and Harris sympathized with his need for a better workforce. He pointed out that attempts to raise the minimum wage are resulting in automation at places like McDonald's and taking away the entry-level jobs that kids used to work in order to get some experience in the workforce. In addition, the "welfare state" also de-incentivizes people to work, he added.

As a member of the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Services Subcommittee, Harris said he thinks the biggest issue is that the education system has not yet figured out how to match the needs of the workforce. Naugle agreed and said he sees a huge lack of people "who tinker" and work with their hands, which makes it harder to train them to work at his company.

"How do we make sure that you don't have to sit here worrying every day that, gosh, if two people quit on that floor, how am I going to be able to replace them and how long will it take to train them?" Harris asked.

"You hit it right on the head," Naugle replied. "That's what I think every day."

A similar conversation around skills in the workforce occurred when Harris traveled over the bridge to the HCC campus in Aberdeen for a roundtable discussion hosted by SWN with more than a dozen members of the regional business community.

Beginning the discussion, SWN Executive Director Bruce England briefed the congressman on SWN's operations, which generally revolve around the placement of laid off workers in new positions and assisting businesses with finding skilled workers. England told Harris that SWN places between 82 and 90 percent of its clients in a new position with a sustainable wage. Of those, 60 to 70 percent are retained for a year.

"That's pretty good," Harris replied.

As the discussion progressed, business leaders pointed to a labor force that is often times lacking in certain skills, a dilemma that hinders economic growth.

Steven Overbay, deputy director of Harford County's Department of Economic Development, said that Aberdeen Proving Ground has hundreds of unfilled jobs in cybersecurity.

Warwick Mushroom farm manager Jack Reitnauer said he's struggling to find workers with the mechanical and computer skills that his business needs.

"We hear it throughout the agriculture sector," Harris said on the declining workforce. "I don't know what we're doing wrong."

Other business owners said the region has a need for more trade workers — such as welders and machinists — and they voiced frustration that schools appear to be pushing more and more students toward four-year universities.

"Why we don't have more welders and machinists is depressing," Harris said, noting the competitive pay for these occupations.

Another handful said employees often lack life skills, such as the ability to show up on time and work hard.

"I don't know what we're teaching in our schools, to be honest with you," Harris said. "We're failing that."

Reflecting on the concerns of the business community, Harris asked whether schools seemed to be receptive to the business community's needs. England indicated that schools are receptive and active in preparing students, but that there are limitations.

Talking about the need to prepare machinists, England said that "the technology is costly."

England pointed to the Cecil County School of Technology — which offers programs in a plethora of diverse fields — as one way the county is addressing workforce development.

Harris called it a "beautiful facility" with "great promise."

Oberbay added that Harford Technical High School is increasingly competitive and unable to serve the county's growing population. He added that the school appears to be pushing students toward attending four-year universities, instead of pushing them towards a trade program.

"I think our vocational process has lost sight" of the important of trades, he said.

Afterward, Harris said he heard a need to better prepare the workforce, from recent high school graduates who have never had a job to people who have been laid off from a job they held for decades.

"This is important, because the necessary skill set changes over time and changes with location. These have to be locally matched," Harris said. "One of the advantages of the (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act), the current workforce act, as you heard, hopefully allows the flexibility for these decisions to be made locally, not from Washington."

Source: Cecil Whig

Issues:Economy