The inclusion solution: Sioux Falls grapples with diversity as workforce woes mount

Jeremy J Fugleberg

Jason Ball stepped up to the microphone before the downtown Rotary Club last month and delivered a strong message calling for Sioux Falls to come into its own.

“We have to begin to get okay with becoming a major metro area," said the president and CEO of the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce,

The metro area now includes more than 250,000 people, he reminded the crowd.

"We’ve got to grow into the community we need to be," he said. "And I think that’s going to begin here, with us not only just valuing the diversity that exists in this community but finding ways to celebrate it."

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Campaign brings in $15.5M for economic development

Patrick Anderson
Argus Leader

Business leaders in Sioux Falls raised $15.5 million as part of an ongoing effort to bolster and invest in the local economy.

Organizers behind the most recent Forward Sioux Falls campaign announced the fundraising total Tuesday, promising to spend some of the money on workforce development.

“Those dollars will be used to fund any number of economic development, quality-of-life initiatives,” said Dave Rozenboom, who co-chaired the campaign.

[. . .] Hoping to understand the education and training needs of the city's future workforce, the group brought in the consulting firm Market Street Services in January 2015 to conduct a six-month analysis. The company’s work helped coordinators pick a list of priorities for the next five years.

“What they provided was independent, third-party assessment,” said Rozenboom, president of First Premier Bank. “They also do this across the country, so we benefit from their intellectual experience and perspectives.”

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Study: Talent capacity is biggest issue

By Rob Swenson
Sioux Falls Business Journal


A study recently conducted for Forward Sioux Falls identified workforce development as the highest priority challenge facing the local economy.

The Sioux Falls area economy and population are growing economically at levels greater than state and national averages. However, if the availability and skill levels of workers are not enhanced, continued growth might not be sustainable, according to the study.

Forward Sioux Falls is a community-development program created and jointly administered by the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and the Sioux Falls Development Foundation. To explore workforce challenges and help develop a course of action, Forward Sioux Falls engaged Market Street Services to assess the area’s competitive position and workforce training needs.

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Dakota Midday: Economics, Jobs & Leadership

By Kealey Bultena
SDPB Radio

The conversations of Dakota Midday on Tuesday, September 29, 2015 are woven together with an economics thread.

Workforce initiatives can't rely on the quality of jobs in South Dakota if they want to attract people from other regions. Research shows the way younger people choose careers is different than you might expect. J. Mac Holladay is the founder and CEO of Market Street Services based in Atlanta, Georgia. He explains why place may matter more than a certain kind of employment.

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Schwan: The comings and goings of the Sioux Falls workforce

By Jodi Schwan

Argus Leader

I read the whole 75-page report on workforce development released last week, but I kept repeating one statistic in there whenever I talked about it.

So it’s probably worth writing about it, too:

In the five years between 2006 and 2011, 1,050 people moved from Sioux Falls to the Minneapolis metro area.

But listen to this.

In that same time, 950 people moved from the Minneapolis area to Sioux Falls.

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SF Stakeholders Reveal Long-Term Plan For Sustainable Workforce

By Kealey Bultena
SDPB Radio



A coalition of Sioux Falls area leaders is setting priorities for workforce. Business, education, government, and community stakeholders are applying national and local economic data to develop a plan for sustainability.

Forward Sioux Falls and a company called Market Street services collected data for six months. The information spans across platforms: innovation, economic performance, workforce capacity, quality of life, business environment, labor market, public education, technical programs and higher ed.

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Report: Tech schools pivotal to Sioux Falls' future

By Patrick Anderson
Argus Leader

Jeff Moffatt wanted to learn skills he could use in the family business.

But it only took a few classes at Southeast Tech for the 25-year-old Watertown native to learn about job opportunities that might go beyond Moffatt Products, his dad's company and a maker of the sort of flexible arms used in lamps.

Moffatt thinks a two-year degree in computer-aided drafting will net him a bigger salary than a degree in engineering.

"There's just a higher demand right now," he said with a smile and a head shake. "It's super cheap for a two-year degree."

Providing for Sioux Falls' future job growth means attracting and educating more people like Moffatt, who are interested in careers that don't require a four-year degree, according to a company hired to study the city's workforce needs.

A representative for Market Street Services presented findings Wednesday at the University Center in Sioux Falls for a crowd of business leaders and educators.

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Solutions to Improve Sioux Falls' Workforce

By Brady Mallory

KELOLAND TV

According to a new report from a workforce strategy task force, wages are up across the board in Sioux Falls. That is because managers and business owners are raising pay in order to fill jobs.

"We're on the hunt. It's a struggle," Mike McGreevy, MacKenzie River Pizza general manager, said. "You'll see signs for fast food restaurants, starting at $10, $11 and $12 per hour, which some would call that a living wage."

You can spot "Help Wanted" all over the city. These two little words can create big problems for bosses who are trying to staff their businesses.

"Most of the professional people we ask don't know very much about the overall economy. They only know they can't find the right person for the job," Mac Holladay, Market Street Services, said.

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Forward Sioux Falls unveils action plan aimed at workforce development

By Tess Hedrick
KSFY, abc



It's clear the population of Sioux Falls continues to grow, along with its economic growth. There are warning signs that this growth may not be sustainable unless steps are taken to enhance the workforce availability and skills.

Forward Sioux Falls has raised more than $25 million since its founding in 1987 to enhance Sioux Falls economic development efforts and improve the quality of life.

Recently, they worked with the consulting firm 'Market Street Services' to conduct a six-month study to assess where the Sioux Falls region is, in terms of both the workforce and education needs.

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Competitive assessment shows city’s strength for startups

By Jodi Schwan
Argus Leader


Sioux Falls ranks high for economic activity and opportunity but lags other cities in average wages, and research and development activity.

Those are some of the findings of a competitive assessment completed by Market Street Services as part of its workforce study for Forward Sioux Falls.


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Robots: Will they displace Sioux Falls workers?

By Steve Young
Argus Leader


When their work day is done, there are some in Sioux Falls who never leave the office. Never meet their buddies for a cold one before going home. Never head to their kid's soccer game or to a workout at the gym. [. . .]

An analysis prepared for Sioux Falls economic development officials this spring projected that thousands of jobs in some of the city's fastest-growing fields might become obsolete within 10 to 20 years as robots and artificial intelligence take on a bigger role in the workplace and economy.


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