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HireHERE Hero - Chattanooga State Tech Center
Thursday, 24 September 2009 10:10
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HireHERE, a community organization promoting the Chattanooga-area workforce, has chosen the Tennessee Technology Center at Chattanooga State Community College as its first HireHERE Hero for the school's continuing commitment to giving its students the high-quality education and training they need to be productive participants in the local economy.
"The Chattanooga area offers its employers a highly skilled workforce," Ron Tanner, a HireHERE spokesperson said, "and the Tech Center at Chattanooga State is a major partner in our efforts to maintain the quality of that workforce."
The Tennessee Technology Center, which was founded in 1969, serves over 1,000 students each year. It's 37 faculty and staff offer 19 one-year diploma programs and four certificate programs. Programs include automotive technology, business systems technology, computer operations technology, industrial electronics, medical assistant, practical nursing, surgical technology, building construction tech, masonry, plumbing, welding, and others.
"Today's economy requires ongoing training and re-training," Tanner said. "Schools like the Tech Center are vital to providing the continuing education and training that employees need."
The HireHERE Hero award is given to local individuals and institutions that understand the importance of promoting and growing the Chattanooga-area workforce.
"We're pleased to give our first award to the Tech Center at Chattanooga State because they symbolize everything that HireHERE works to promote," Tanner said. "The school works with local businesses to ensure they are offering the training that employers need, and the school works hard to ensure that its students get the training they need to be successful in the workplace.
"That's what HireHERE is all about."
Construction And Manufacturing Unlikely To Return To Pre-Recession Strength, Fed Official Says
Friday, 28 August 2009 09:41
Unemployment Also Will Remain High, Dennis Lockhart Says
by Judy Frank
Although there are early signs the current recession may have struck bottom, hard-hit industries such as construction and manufacturing will continue to struggle, the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta said Wednesday in Chattanooga.
Further, jobless figures – which now stand at a staggering 16 percent if under-employed and part-time workers are included – will remain high, Dennis Lockhart predicted during his keynote speech during the annual meeting of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.
“This recession has had a severe impact on employment in various ways: jobs, furloughs, and number of hours worked,” he explained.
“For example, the average manufacturing work week has fallen below 40 hours for the first time since 1983. And the number of workers employed part-time for economic reasons has increased more in this recession than in any since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) started tracking that information.”
“Sectors in which job losses have been most pronounced are unlikely to see a rapid return to prerecession levels of business activity, let alone prerecession levels of employment,” Mr. Lockhart told the large crowd attending the annual luncheon.
“Construction, which represents about 6 percent of employment, has seen a recent activity uptick in the residential category from very low levels. But the inventory of unsold homes on the market is elevated. Much of this inventory will have to be absorbed before construction employment returns to any levels we might consider ‘normal.’ "
“Industry capacity before the recession approached 2 million housing starts on an annual basis,” added. “Starts are now hovering around 580,000.”
The manufacturing sector also continues to suffer, he said.
“Between 1965 and 2000, manufacturing employment generally
Tennessee construction jobs down 20%
Friday, 28 August 2009 09:06
Tennessee had 106,100 construction jobs in July, a 20 percent decline from a year ago, according to an analysis of federal employment data recently released by the Associated General Contractors of America.
The analysis found that 47 states saw declines in construction employment, while only two saw increases and one saw no change in construction employment between July 2008 and July 2009.
Tennessee was above the national decrease of 14.6 percent. In July 2008, Tennessee had 133,000 construction jobs.
Arizona and Nevada led the nation in construction job losses, while only Louisiana and North Dakota saw increases in construction jobs.
Work has been hurt by a near halt in office and retail construction and stimulus spending that has yet to materialize, Stephen Sandherr, the association's chief executive officer, said in a statement.
“There aren't a lot of places construction workers can turn to avoid the steep layoffs sweeping the construction industry right now,” he said.
Sandherr said each of the five hardest-hit states in July saw construction employment declines greater than 20 percent over the previous year. The worst hit was Arizona, which had a 28 percent decrease in construction employment.
Sandherr said the new employment figures point to the need for federal and state officials to move faster in allocating the estimated $135 billion in stimulus-funded construction programs.
Lots of coverage on VW's anniversary
Thursday, 16 July 2009 11:30
There has been a lot of coverage the past two days on VW's one year anniversary in Chattanooga, and their announced awards of $436 million to Tennessee and Chattanooga companies. The news has been entirely positive, with the exception of a few question (Chattanoogan LTE and Chattarati comments) about how much of the reported amount is coming directly to Chattanooga and Hamilton County.
Hire Here took the position yesterday to congratulate VW on its one year anniversary, and remind everyone that the organization encourages VW and other local companies to continue to first consider local firms when Chattanooga has a business fitting the project.
Here's a selection of all the reporting:
BMW in South Carolina a measure of success
Tuesday, 14 July 2009 08:06
Chattanooga and southeast Tennessee are poised to experience a substantial economic boost from the Volkswagen facility locating in the Enterprise South Industrial Park. We’d like to highlight an article titled “BMW in South Carolina: An Update” by Douglas P. Woodward and Paulo Guimarães that was featured in the Winter 2009 edition of Business and Economic Review, a publication of the Division of Research of the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. By studying this article Chattanoogans can develop a better understanding of the possible impacts VW can have on our economy not only in the short term, but also decades from now.
The BMW plant has been – and continues to be – a significant boon to the economy of Spartanburg County (the plant’s location) and the state of South Carolina since its groundbreaking in 1992. The continued success is largely due to the share of BMW’s supplier network located in South Carolina, and the substantial – and somewhat unanticipated – ongoing investment and expansion of BMW in Spartanburg County.
At the time BMW announced and broke ground on the Spartanburg facility, the country was in the middle of an economic downturn and experiencing a dip in consumer confidence – which is very similar to present economic conditions locally and nationally. But the BMW production facility “promised 2,000 direct jobs and $500 million in capital investment. By early 2008, the company reported that it had 5,400 full-time jobs at the 1,150-acre site.”
And starting in 2007, BMW began an expansion and upgrade of the Spartanburg facility, planning to invest $750 million by 2010. “In 2008 alone, when the overall construction sector was sluggish across the United States, BMW will spend $298 million. Directly and indirectly, this construction activity will support approximately 5,000 jobs, contribute $256 million to value added, and add $200 million to the state’s labor income in 2008.”
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