Politics & Government
Who's Struggling in the Somerville Workforce?
A recent report takes a look at Somerville's workforce strengths and weaknesses.
Overall, the jobs and labor outlook in Somerville is healthy, but there are some in the city who are struggling more than others.
That's according to a report presented Thursday at Somerville City Hall.
The "Somerville Jobs Advisory Committee Findings & Policy Recommendations" was compiled by a committee of 10 people, including aldermen, members of the business community and representatives from local jobs-training organizations. Although the report was released in January, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone and Alderman At-Large Bruce Desmond, who chaired the committee, presented it Thursday.
"For a city with a very low unemployment rate, our future looks good," said Desmond.
The report shows a number of strengths in the Somerville labor force:
- Unemployment, below 5 percent for much of the past two years, is consistently lower than the state and national unemployment rates
- The labor force is young, with 60 percent of the labor force between the ages of 18 and 34
- 52 percent of the labor force has a bachelor's degree or higher
Meanwhile, the number of jobs in Somerville has been growing. There was a total of 22,245 local jobs in Somerville as of the beginning of 2012, up from 21,038 in 2005.
Some in Somerville, however, are not doing as well, particularly older workers and workers without college degrees:
- 12 percent of residents between the ages of 55 and 64 are unemployed
- 13 percent of residents with only a high school degree are unemployed
- There's been a decrease in manufacturing, public administration, education and health services, and construction jobs since 2009
Desmond said the report offers a "broad compendium of policy recommendations and strategies" for helping Somerville residents get some of those new jobs.
The report recommends synchronizing workforce development efforts "via local and regional partnerships and networks," improving workforce readiness, connecting residents to the business community, and maximizing "the social return on workforce funding sources."
In other words, the city wants to help train workers and connect workers to employers, and it wants to work with local non-profits, schools and service providers to do so.
A key to funding such an effort, in addition to going after state and federal grants, is to establish a "development linkage fee." Real estate developers would pay a fee on projects they're building in the city, and that money would go to various workforce enrichment programs. The proposal is being discussed by the Somerville Board of Aldermen.
Curtatone said the linkage fee is "crucial" to pushing forward with local jobs programs.
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