TSC's Job Market Survey: Midwest

TheStreet.com asked readers around the country to offer their observations on the state of their local job markets. Here's what readers in the Midwest had to say.

Having been immersed in several construction projects with our house this spring and summer, the health of the local trades has become a daily topic. Any and all workers, be they electricians, carpenters, roofers or jacks-of-all-trades, they are overbooked like none can remember. One learns to just be patient and allow the projects to proceed slowly ... though always well done-for these are excellent workers. Incentives and higher wages are being offered to attract new workers. Ads can even be heard on the radio and cable channels. Doesn't end with trades, job markets are HOT throughout the Twin Cities. As I tell my soon-to-graduate engineer-in-training son, he's lucky to enter at the best time in history ... so it seems.

-- Gary Sewell
Minneapolis

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I live in Minneapolis. I recently moved from just outside Chicago. I work in software and there are TONS of technology jobs in the Minneapolis area, particularly for full-time and consulting. This town is booming.

Wages in the tech sector, especially the professional side have been rising for a few years now. I don't know if there has been an increase in the rate of change of wages or not, but the wages are climbing.

-- Jason Ichen
Minneapolis

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Here in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where the unemployment rate is lowest in the country at 1.8%, it's nearly impossible to find people to hire. Federally mandated minimum-wage levels have long ceased to apply to low-level jobs, with most going for $8/hr. and up. In my neighborhood, the fast food joints are all undermanned and are offering bonuses to employees who can recruit a friend. Advertising agencies are raiding each other for summer interns.

-- Curt Swenson
Minneapolis

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I am an employer of about 45 people in a small tube-fabrication company. Our unemployment rate is all surrounding counties runs 2.0% to 2.9%. What we see is those at low end of food change on wages offered, such as fast-food people, are hardest hit because people are using these conditions to upgrade to more skilled, higher-paying positions. Those at the top end of wage offering are getting employees but must in many cases spend more then usual to train them. In short if you are at low-end wage offering you are resorting to part timers, retirees, and highly mobile people. While at mid and high wage end you are taking workers from low end and training. That is why I think any poll would show a lot more concern at small companies then mid to large. Wage increases are less affected at mid to large than at the low-end. Neat way to get minimum-wage increase without government legislation!

-- Don Strouse
Northeast Indiana

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I'm in the telecommunications industry in the Chicago area. This industry is searching for qualified workers and can't find enough of them. Companies are giving good raises to retain the people they already have and are offering higher salaries and/or bonuses to join on.

-- Ken Hollars
Chicago

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I'm from the Chicago area and work for a futures firm. My firm has had to pay 15% higher wages (vs. last year) for unskilled tasks like typing trades into the computer system, back-office trade-checking functions and simple overnight electronic order-taking. We have lost a significant number of people due to higher wages elsewhere and have had to respond by boosting the wages and bonuses for current employees and for those we try to hire.

An interesting caveat is the prices that we charge to customers. Competition is intense and as computer execution is creeping slowly forward, rates have been moving continually lower. Costs for people are up, commission rates are moving down. We have been able to keep revenues moving up by doing more business both on a per-salesperson basis and by adding more salespeople.

My wife works in sales for a manufacturing firm that custom-cuts window treatments on behalf of the retail outlets that sell them to consumers. She faces intense competition from several other manufacturers in the region. Her sales are up 40% this year vs. last year. Her company though has only been able to raise prices about 5% due to the competition. Their best margins come from new products -- which her competitors don't yet have. Her firm is the "innovator" in the industry. Her firm has been having trouble meeting demand. They have been filling their need for workers in the factory with green card labor -- mostly from Mexico -- in an attempt to keep wages down. However, training costs are up. The average "American" worker is too expensive for them to hire.

-- Todd Kobayashi
Chicago

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My line of expertise is termed "senior sales representative" in Internet/technology related tools and services. The skills companies are looking for in that position is the ability to hit the ground running with solution/consultative selling abilities while learning the specific technology. My job search has been very active and companies are presenting higher salary and total compensation levels.

It appears in the Chicago area, there are many opportunities but a smaller pool of available candidates. Thus the higher salary/total compensation levels. It truly is an employee market.

-- Lee Huber
Chicago

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I have several friends who own small businesses or manage retail outlets and they are having a terrible time finding enough employees. The summer months are not as bad as students fill many positions, but the rest of the year is tough. The worst areas seem to be restaurants, retail and administrative positions. I even noticed that one of our local McDonald's outlets was offering a signing bonus!

A couple of years ago, most of my coworkers and friends were receiving par increases of 4% to 6% ... those increases are now 6% to 10% as I think companies are worried that their best employees will be offered higher paying jobs elsewhere. Management is acutely aware of the difficulty and expense of finding quality employees and now seem more willing to strive to keep them happy.

-- Brett Halley
Des Moines, Iowa

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Blazing, that's what is happening in Fort Wayne, Ind. I see lower- and lower-skilled people getting a given type of job. In my department, portfolio managers are getting younger. Over at LNC, high-school grads are commanding 28K to 30K to answer annuity questions over the phone. In Indiana, 30K is more than an average business college grad could get three years ago! This shrinking of the labor pool is also evident in the lack of good service consumers are receiving. From the teller downstairs who will curse at a bank customer because, hey, she can get a job over at Bank One this afternoon, to the manager who treats his employees like crap and golfs most days of the week.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter. I'm a 24-year-old analyst who is leveraging this tight labor market. If I don't get at least a 15% increase in pay this September, I'm outta here.

-- Name Withheld
Fort Wayne, Ind.

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In the Twin Cities the labor market is incredibly tight. Help-wanted signs are everywhere. Ads are on the radio. The help-wanted section in the paper is actually several sections fat. Wages for sales clerks in the grocery stores are regularly posted at $10 per hour. All the big-box retailers are under-staffed. The Target Center (which is our NBA venue) has an ad up in lights (what's that cost in lost revenue).

This is not generally a "blue-collar town," and I'm not a blue-collar person, so I can't give you specific anecdotes, but you'd be crazy not to think there is tremendous wage pressure. The only people who are not doing well are the farmers.

And as for health-care costs, my small company just ate a very large health-care premium increase. And the local paper reported that the state faces a 23% increase in health-care costs for its covered workers.

-- Tina Michael
Minneapolis

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I own four day-care centers in Michigan, Farmington Hills (2), Novi and Redford. We are experiencing several problems. We are having problems just getting people to answer our help wanted ads. When they do call or come in they want a high wage in comparison to what we paid last year. These people have little to no experience and very few have any college. The majority have very poor work ethics.

The fast-food places have signs in their windows, $8 and up per hour. Every place you look service business are crying for help. Today I saw help wanted signs at three different restaurants. In our area we are paying more for less-qualified people when we can get them!

-- Barbara Engerer
Plymouth, Mich.