Corporate Executive Survey Commentary: Labor Skills and Costs - Inversely Proportional
As the importance of skilled labor has increased, the concern about labor costs has fallen, and companies are increasingly locating in the places where millennials live, which tend to have a higher quality of life.
Q1 2016
If a company does plan a new domestic facility, the projects tend to be smaller. About 60 percent of the respondents indicate that their domestic projects will involve the creation of fewer than 50 jobs and less than $10 million of capital investment.
The availability of skilled labor remains the number-one consideration in site selection. Over the past 30 years, as the importance of skilled labor has increased, the concern about labor costs has fallen. If you compare the results of 1986 to 2015, the two factors have swapped places in the rankings. Today, companies are willing to pay for a higher skilled labor force because executives believe the workers will be more productive.
Quality of life has become a major concern in 2015 because companies realize that millennials are important to their future work force, and millennials are very concerned with the community and its amenities. To attract the higher skilled millennials, companies are increasingly worried about locating in places where millennials want to live. Or, as we are seeing, companies are locating where the millennials are already living — places that tend to have higher quality of life.
Project Announcements
Sun Pharmaceuticals Plans Princeton, New Jersey, Headquarters
03/18/2025
Engineered Foam Packaging Expands Bishopville, South Carolina, Operations
03/18/2025
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation Expands Bastrop, Texas, Operations
03/16/2025
Ralliant Corporation Plans Raleigh, North Carolina, Global Headquarters
03/16/2025
CG Model Tek Expands Coffee County, Tennessee, Manufacturing Operations
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TST Fabrication and Machine Expands Norfolk, Virginia, Headquarters-Operations
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