Zoom Screenshot | From top-left, clockwise: Ron Hetrick, Genelle Tayor Kumpe, Leslie Vickrey and Sean Akin participated in a virtual roundtable designed to help employers connect with the growing number of Gen Z workers looking for careers in the trades.

A Central Valley staffing company with a leading national presence hosted a recent webinar to explore ways for employers to hire and retain the youngest generation of workers.

Fresno-based franchise staffing organization PrideStaff hosted a virtual roundtable on Feb. 20 to address Gen Z’s growing interest in skilled trades and strategies for local companies to attract and retain them.

Gen Z is the youngest cohort in the labor force, born from 1997-2012.

The webinar, “Hiring and Retaining the Next Generation of Trade Talent,” was designed to help employers connect with Gen Z workers, or the “Toolbelt Generation” —a term used to describe young adults who are choosing skilled trades over college.

Experts in the webinar included Ron Hetrick, senior labor economist with labor market analytics company Lightcast; Genelle Taylor Kumpe, CEO of the Fresno Business Council and San Joaquin Valley Manufacturing Alliance; and Sean Akin, PrideStaff vice president of Fresno branch operations.

The session was moderated by Leslie Vickrey, CEO and founder of ClearEdge, a marketing agency specializing in the talent and tech industry, with corporate headquarters in Aliso Viejo.

Topics included how demographics and generational changes are impacting skilled labor recruitment, effective and ineffective methods to recruit new workers, cultural adjustments employers can make to deal with different generations and the expectations managers should have as they help shape the next generation of skilled talent.

Hetrick, the keynote speaker of the webinar, discussed an article he authored, “Demographic Drought: The Rising Storm,” which centered on building a future-ready workforce to withstand the looming labor shortage.

 

Back to boomers

He noted that the Baby Boomer generation gave the U.S. a huge labor force from the 1970s through the 1990s, but they are now hitting retirement age and leaving the workforce.

Hetrick said that Millennials are now the biggest age demographic in the U.S. labor force.

“During the pandemic, we had a bunch of people who dropped out of the labor force and our labor rate took a big hit,” Hetrick said. “It never got better. Almost immediately overnight 5 million people left the labor force. They didn’t die, they just ceased to want to work. This was not something we were prepared for. It was a shock to the system.”

When this happens, there are more consumers and less producers to take care of the consuming population.

He said that workforce participation fell sharply for men ages 25-54 as soon as Millennials reached that age range.

Hetrick said that the U.S. labor force is highly educated, with 65 million people having a bachelor’s degree or higher, but that presents its own issues.

About 60% of all open jobs do not require a college degree, which is causing a “crazy war for talent in areas we thought was never going to happen,” Hetrick said.

In the ‘90s and early 2000s, the war for talent was waged in fields including science, technology, engineering and technical jobs. Now they are looking for people who will simply show up each day.

This has led to employers increasing their wages to attract people, he added.

Hetrick said that college graduates between ages 20-24 have a higher unemployment rate than those who didn’t attend college.

“You can see our economy desperately looking for people to do the work that keeps a society functioning, which is not what we are producing,” he said.

He said the unemployment rate for production and skilled trade occupations remained at a historical low of 2.6% at the end of 2024, with wages for warehouse workers going “straight up,” representing an increase in retail demand.

He also said immigration is the main source of talent keeping the U.S. labor market afloat. He said that since early 2020, over 80% of the nation’s labor force net increase was foreign-born.

To help develop the local workforce and attract people, Hetrick said companies should train and mentor people of all backgrounds to add to their skillsets, find existing workers in markets that are skilled, partner with schools to add to the potential labor pool and recruit candidates who care about the company’s mission.

 

Building the labor pool

Like virtually all other industries, the manufacturing sector is also facing labor challenges.

Kumpe said manufacturers are not only having trouble finding workers, but also securing workers with the right skills.

Lack of a skilled workforce leads to production delays and extended lead times, leaving manufacturers to reject new business opportunities that come to their door, Kumpe said.

“To address these challenges, companies are focusing on developing their workforces from within and forming partnerships with schools and restructuring roles to appeal to the new generation of workers,” Kumpe said.

The SJVMA is working to close labor gaps through apprenticeship programs, apprentice model programs, industry-led training initiatives and classroom learning with real-world industry needs, Kumpe said.

Instead of passively waiting for skilled workers, manufacturers are stepping up to cultivate the talent they really need, she added.

While Millennials might be the largest age demographic in the workforce, Gen Z is still developing.

Akin said that Millennials are slowly jumping into the skilled trades, wanting to avoid going into debt for a college education and make the same pay as if they went to work straight out of vocational school or high school.

“Companies that are actively going through Gen Z through mentorship or training programs or partnering with groups like the SJVMA — they’re the ones that are seeing the success and seeing the new workforce come through,” Akin said.

Employers must think differently, and train and upscale the workforce. They can no longer rely on experienced talent that is simply not there, Akin said.

Employers have to build inhouse training programs, have mentors and have apprenticeships and initiatives, Akin said.

Companies that are not leveraging technology and automation are the ones that are struggling, he added.

“Innovation is critical to business, not only in the administrative world, but in technology as well,” Akin said.

The Gen Z generation is unique, he added, as they are technologically savvy, but also know the value of a dollar, and demand their services be well compensated.