Rochester Area Skill Needs Assessment and Business Climate Survey, May 2014

Rochester Area Skill Needs Assessment and Business Climate Survey ii

S UMMARY The Rochester Area Skill Needs Assessment and Business Climate Survey, represents the biannual survey effort by Monroe Community College’s (MCC) Economic Development and Innovative Workforce Services (EDIWS) division aimed at generating better area labor market information. The data collected will inform training programs, grant strategies, address local worker pipeline deficits, and help put displaced workers back to work. The first administration of the survey was in March of 2013, MCC surveyed businesses on the topics of business climate, skill needs, and training. The report was released with the initial findings in September of 2013 1 . In December of 2013, MCC surveyed businesses once again asking questions that covered workforce skills needs and general questions about the business climate with a special emphasis on health care. Twenty-nine questions were asked in total and can be found in the Appendix section of this report. Respondents to the survey totaled 400 across the local employment size spectrum. Specific results for health care are included in several sections of the report. Key Findings Key findings of the survey include: • Businesses are feeling less optimistic about the region. Fewer respondents view current and future business conditions as optimistically as in the previous survey. • Employers are looking to hold the line with their current workforce. Fewer employers are planning to hire than in the previous survey. However, the number of employers looking to reduce the size of their workforce has decreased. • There are roughly 26,000 positions that are chronically difficult to fill in the Finger Lakes Region. Similar to the previous administration of the survey, this represents less than 5% of the total occupied positions. Most respondents look locally to fill these positions. They estimate a 20% or less increase in pay would be enough incentive to fill most of these positions. Unfilled positions impact employers by requiring them to pay overtime and training costs to support their existing workforce in making up the difference. • Health care related employers will be training their workforce on-site with internal staff. Ninety percent of respondents indicated they would be providing training to their existing workforce in the next year. The three most frequently cited areas of training need include quality, customer service, and HIPAA compliance.

1 See “Rochester Area Skill Needs Assessment and Business Climate Survey” report published by the Economic Development and Innovative Workforce Services department of Monroe Community college for a full discussion.

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