According to statistics provided in this week's Highland's report at the Cookeville Chamber of Commerce, our region's unemployment levels remain high and skills and education may play a key factor in our ability to change that.

In a study by Wadley-Donovan GrowthTech LLC, the region's unemployment rate is higher than the national and state averages.  The average for the Highlands region (White, Putnam and Overton counties) was 11.6% in August 2009  vs. 10.8% for the state and 9.6% for the nation. 

New unemployment figures are due out this week from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  But the Wade-Donovan survey produced some other interesting findings around our ability to match job opportunities with the unemployed:

Skill and Education Gaps:

- Employers find it very difficult to find qualified candidates in four occupations:  electrical and electronic engineers, electricians, tool and die makers and registered nurses. 

- There is one occupation -- registsered nurses -- for which there will be a projected general gap between supply and demand in the next year.  But if there is an economic recovery, we can anticipate additional gaps in engineering, electrician work, and managers/supervisors. 

- While 37%-50% of employers report using co-ops, apprenticeships, internships, or similar programs, the frequency of use among area institutions is infrequent, except for TTU. 

- Education levels among unemployed residents are modest and lower than those of the employed residents.  Nearly 40% of unemployed residents surveyed reported a high school diploma/GED as their highest level of education, and 10.5% report not having received either. 

- The percentage of residents in the region with a bachelor's, graduate or professional degree lags the state and national averages.  Most companies seeking locations for higher-technological operations, particularly in research or business services, look for areas with an above-average presence of residents with bachelor's, master's, and higher degrees. 

- In 2009, 68.4% of the area's population had at least a high school diploma.  This is lower than state and national averages (76% and 80.6%, respectively).   Lower educated employees can offer training and retraining obstacles for employers seeking to upgrade their workforces to meet new and emerging needs. 

Nationally, unemployment rates continued to be higher in December 2009 than a year earlier in all but one of 372 metropoliton areas.  

Nineteen metropoliton areas recorded jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent, while 10 areas registered rates below 5.0 percent.
The national unemployment rate in December was 9.7 percent, not seasonally adjusted, up from 7.1 percent a year earlier.  

El Centro, Calif., continued to record the highest unemployment rate, 27.7 percent.  Merced, Calif., registered the next highest rate, 19.8 percent. Among the 19 areas with jobless rates of at least 15.0 percent, 12 were located in California and 3 were in Michigan. Fargo, N.D.-Minn., registered the lowest unemployment rate in December, 4.0 percent, closely followed by Grand Forks, N.D.-Minn., and Lincoln, Neb., 4.1 percent each. 

Weirton-Steubenville, W.Va.-Ohio, recorded the largest jobless rate increase from December 2008 (+5.9 percentage points). The areas with the next largest rate increases were Farmington, N.M. (+5.4 percentage points); Decatur, Ill., and Palm Coast, Fla. (+5.1 points each); and Casper, Wyo., and Peoria, Ill. (+5.0 points each). One area, Elkhart-Goshen, Ind., posted an unemployment rate decrease over the year of 1.2 percentage points to 14.8 percent.
 
The largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment among the metropolitan divisions was reported in Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills,  Mich. (-7.5 percent), followed by San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, Calif. (-4.6 percent), Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, Ill., and Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, Mich. (-4.3 percent each).

 The Regional and State Employment and Unemployment news release for January is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, March 10, 2010.