{"id":36213,"date":"2023-03-21T11:00:05","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T15:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?p=36213"},"modified":"2023-03-21T11:00:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-21T15:00:05","slug":"inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/","title":{"rendered":"Inflation, Better Broadband Service Voiced As Concerns Of Legislators At ARCC Luncheon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner addresses the crowd at the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce Lunch With Legislators gathering on Feb. 25 at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls .
Paul Post<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Paul Post<\/p>\n

Government and employer-driven workforce development programs are critical to overcoming a nationwide labor shortage problem that\u2019s reaching crisis proportions locally as well.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what elected officials told more than 200 people at the recent Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce Lunch With Legislators gathering on Feb. 25 at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls .<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a single employer I\u2019ve visited in my district who\u2019s said this isn\u2019t an issue for them,\u201d said state Sen. Dan Stec.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Elisa Stefanik said, \u201cEvery small business I go to, every manufacturer, every hospital, they tell me one of their top concerns is attracting labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

They discussed a variety of business-related issues with state Sen. Jake Ashby\u00a0 <\/span>and Assembly members Carrie Woerner and Matt Simpson. Woerner and Simpson\u2019s districts encompass northern Saratoga County.<\/p>\n

During the pandemic, many people discovered they had enough financial resources to retire and opt out of the workforce, Woerner said. \u201cAnd a lot of people have chosen to stop working for somebody else and start their own business,\u201d she said. \u201cBusiness starts have skyrocketed the past couple of years (23,745 this January versus 16,862 in January 2019).\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>Also, there\u2019s significantly fewer people ages 35-39 and 55-59 than there are in the 18-24 age bracket. \u201cSo there\u2019s a shortage of people with 10 to 20 years of experience that you\u2019re all counting on,\u201d Woerner said. \u201cThe only thing we can do is invest in smart workforce development.\u201d<\/p>\n

But this must be done strategically, training people for the jobs that are most available. \u201cWe\u2019re seeing an increase in jobs in our region, but they aren\u2019t in manufacturing,\u201d Woerner said. \u201cThey\u2019re in education, health care, professional and business services, leisure, hospitality and construction. We really need to focus our workforce development efforts on where the jobs are being created. We\u2019ve got to recognize that our economy up here is shifting. We need to be paying attention to where the puck is going, not where it\u2019s been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stefanik criticized the extension of unemployment assistance long after the pandemic ended \u201cwhere the incentive was for folks to stay out of work rather than go back to work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve incentivized people to stay home and not go back to the workforce,\u201d Stec said. He also cited the state\u2019s declining population as a reason for fewer eligible workers. Almost 300,000 people left New York for other states last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of them are leaving for economic reasons,\u201d Stec said.<\/p>\n

Simpson, a former Warren County Industrial Development Agency chair, said job retention is just as important as job creation. \u201cWe need to have a business climate that keeps people here, and make sure after (tax) incentives are taken advantage of that there\u2019s a sustainable plant that\u2019s going to stay here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Event attendee Shawn Weinberger, of Queensbury-based KEENA Staffing, agreed with Simpson\u2019s assessment. \u201cYou need to invest in people within your business or another one outside of yours, to pluck those employees away,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you aren\u2019t taking care of people they\u2019re going to leave you.\u201d<\/p>\n

KEENA helps people looking for new career opportunities, and assists companies in their search for talented personnel.<\/p>\n

Legislators also discussed the ongoing need for improved broadband, which is critical not only for economic development, but public health, safety and education as well. Ashby said there\u2019s a cellular phone \u201cdead zone\u201d on Route 9 in Colonie, near Siena College. \u201cThere\u2019s no cell service until well into Latham,\u201d he said. \u201cIt speaks to the longstanding inefficiencies with some of these programs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stec said he\u2019s concerned that capacity issues in urban issues could take already inadequate resources away from rural areas. His 41st District encompasses northeastern New York from Warren County to the Canadian border.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing a lot of people who want to move to rural communities because they\u2019re able to work remotely instead of someplace they don\u2019t want to live any more,\u201d Woerner said. \u201cAll they need is a house and a wire, so let\u2019s get the wires.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to these issues, Stefanik said her chief economic concern is rising inflation. \u201cIt impacts every family, every small business, every farm, every manufacturer,\u201d she said. \u201cI would say it\u2019s the top economic concern I hear from our district.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is sponsoring a Reign in Inflation Act that would mandate analysis of the inflationary impact of executive actions taken by the president.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe need transparencies for these executive actions because it\u2019s been causing inflation to rise faster than at any time during my lifetime,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Stefanik also called for reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act, which she described as the \u201cunderpinning for all local workforce development.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she said the business community is best suited for driving workforce development because it\u2019s \u201cmost in touch with the technical training needed to develop that pipeline.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go to employers they can tell you exactly what skill sets they need,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paul Post Government and employer-driven workforce development programs are critical to overcoming a nationwide labor shortage problem that\u2019s reaching crisis proportions locally as well. That\u2019s what elected officials told more than 200 people at the recent Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce Lunch With Legislators gathering on Feb. 25 at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":36214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nInflation, Better Broadband Service Voiced As Concerns Of Legislators At ARCC Luncheon - Glens Falls Business Journal<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inflation, Better Broadband Service Voiced As Concerns Of Legislators At ARCC Luncheon - Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Paul Post Government and employer-driven workforce development programs are critical to overcoming a nationwide labor shortage problem that\u2019s reaching crisis proportions locally as well. That\u2019s what elected officials told more than 200 people at the recent Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce Lunch With Legislators gathering on Feb. 25 at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens […]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Glens Falls Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-21T15:00:05+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2023\/03\/arcc-legislators-lunch-h.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Van Ness\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/\",\"name\":\"Inflation, Better Broadband Service Voiced As Concerns Of Legislators At ARCC Luncheon - Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-21T15:00:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-21T15:00:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Inflation, Better Broadband Service Voiced As Concerns Of Legislators At ARCC Luncheon\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Glens Falls Business Journal\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86\",\"name\":\"Jake Van Ness\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8083519989e12032abdd06a668982ef4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8083519989e12032abdd06a668982ef4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jake Van Ness\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jakev\/\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Inflation, Better Broadband Service Voiced As Concerns Of Legislators At ARCC Luncheon - Glens Falls Business Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Inflation, Better Broadband Service Voiced As Concerns Of Legislators At ARCC Luncheon - Glens Falls Business Journal","og_description":"By Paul Post Government and employer-driven workforce development programs are critical to overcoming a nationwide labor shortage problem that\u2019s reaching crisis proportions locally as well. That\u2019s what elected officials told more than 200 people at the recent Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce Lunch With Legislators gathering on Feb. 25 at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/","og_site_name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","article_published_time":"2023-03-21T15:00:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/109\/2023\/03\/arcc-legislators-lunch-h.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jake Van Ness","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jake Van Ness","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/","name":"Inflation, Better Broadband Service Voiced As Concerns Of Legislators At ARCC Luncheon - Glens Falls Business Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-03-21T15:00:05+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-21T15:00:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/2023\/03\/inflation-better-broadband-service-voiced-as-concerns-of-legislators-at-arcc-luncheon\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Inflation, Better Broadband Service Voiced As Concerns Of Legislators At ARCC Luncheon"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/","name":"Glens Falls Business Journal","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/a11ec438b5f0e57f1156754ba3931b86","name":"Jake Van Ness","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8083519989e12032abdd06a668982ef4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8083519989e12032abdd06a668982ef4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jake Van Ness"},"url":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/author\/jakev\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36213"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36213"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36213\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36215,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36213\/revisions\/36215"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glensfalls.com\/glensfallsbusinessjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}