C-U market has plenty of jobs, more to come
By DEBRA PRESSEY
News-Gazette Staff Writer

   CHAMPAIGN – If there's one thing certain about the Champaign-Urbana job market, it's this, Kandace Turner says: There are plenty of jobs to go around for everyone.
   Turner, operations manager at Adecco Employment Services, Champaign, said local companies have a high demand for all kinds of employees, from the unskilled all the way up the professional ladder.
   Champaign County's unemployment rate has been traditionally low, hitting a 1990s high of 5 percent in 1993. The county's unemployment hit 2.2 percent in December 1999.
   The state projects Champaign County's employment will continue to grow, from 98,400 – the preliminary count for 1999 – to 113,003 in 2006.
   The highest number of new jobs will be in educational services, which includes all University of Illinois jobs, the state projects.
   That will be followed by jobs at eating and drinking places, physicians' offices, computer and data processing services, hospitals, nursing and personal care facilities, business services and grocery stores, in that order.
   Turner said Champaign-Urbana's big store and restaurant boom in the last five years has forced many employers to pay above minimum wage to compete for able workers.
   Jeff Eder, economic development director for the Greater Champaign-Urbana Economic Partnership, said he's noted a fast-food restaurant advertising starting wages of $7 for day workers and $8.25 for its night shift.
   "They're paying what they have to," he said.
   Distribution centers, where the work can be physically hard, are offering starting pay of $7 to $9 an hour to compete for workers, Eder said.
   Overall, the face of employment in Champaign County hasn't changed much since 1990: About one-third of the county's workers – including everybody employed at the University of Illinois – are on a state, local or federal government payroll.
   The state's preliminary count for 1999 showed 35 percent of the county's employees are on a public payroll, followed by nearly 22 percent in various service jobs, 18 percent in retail jobs and 11 percent in manufacturing. The rest of the jobs were divided among construction, transportation/communication, wholesale, and financial/insurance/real estate jobs.
   Champaign County's largest employer has traditionally been the UI, with 15,632 full-time and part-time employees this year.
   Health care is also a large job category, with two hospitals, two clinics and several nursing homes in Champaign-Urbana.
   Nationwide, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has projected jobs in health care will rise 30 percent by 2006, accounting for 3.1 million new jobs, the largest numerical increase in the 10-year period covering 1996 to 2006. That is due both to the nation's aging population requiring more services and more innovative medical technology.
   The Carle health-care organization is Champaign-Urbana's second-largest employer with 4,222 employed at Carle Foundation Hospital, Carle Clinic and various other businesses.
   Kathy Howell, human relations manager for Carle Foundation Hospital, Urbana, says she's always torn when she sees another new retailer or restaurant opening in Champaign-Urbana: She's happy for the community, she said, but she cringes at how much tougher it makes hiring for Carle.
   Howell is president of the East Central Illinois Workforce Development Commission, a group striving to form partnerships with businesses and education to provide a skilled and well-educated labor force.
   Champaign County's low unemployment rate "is a crisis every day that we deal with," Howell said. "It affects all levels of jobs, and we're constantly challenged with ways to improve the quantity of applicants and also the quality of the work force."
   Howell said the aging of the population and advancing technology are creating a growing need for highly skilled, computer-literate health-care professionals.
   "There are so many job opportunities and not enough people to fill them," she added. "What we're beginning to recognize as a community is that we need to invest in our youth."
   Linda Zigament, managing director of the Champaign-Urbana Economic Partnership, said Champaign-Urbana has better-than-average access to educated young people, and local officials are striving to persuade UI and Parkland College students to remain in the community after graduation.
   Part of that mission lies in educating college students that the local community is a great place to live and raise a family, and that salaries earned here will stretch farther than those earned on the East and West coasts, Zigament said.
   To help keep the local work force growing, economic development officials have placed a major emphasis on recruiting advanced technology businesses, Zigament said.
   The community is ideally suited to such business, because it offers a highly educated work force and capitalizes on the community's No. 1 asset, the UI, Zigament and Eder said.
   The partnership's profile of Champaign County shows 16.3 percent of residents 25 and older hold bachelor's degrees, compared with the 13.6 percent total for the state; and nearly 18 percent of the county's residents over 25 hold graduate or professional degrees, compared with 7.5 percent for the state.
   In fact, Zigament said, one of the main problems to address in the local job market is underemployment – those working below their professional/educational levels.
   The more advanced technology companies the community can attract, the larger the qualified work force it can attract and retain, Zigament said: People are more likely to move into a community and stay if there are several jobs in their field to choose among.
   And, Zigament said, companies are more likely to remain here if there is a plentiful supply of skilled workers.

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