CILEC

As growing numbers of employers warn of labor shortages , some have also taken that to mean that somehow Americans don’t want to work . This is simply not true. The so-called “Great Resignation” that followed the worst public health crisis in more than a century was not Americans suddenly deciding that they could live without a paycheck. It was about American workers deciding that job quality matters. Read the full article here.

by Mark Ziegler Competition is the foundation of our free enterprise system. Just as business success requires an ability to compete for customers, it also depends on attracting and retaining qualified workers. As COVID 19 has disrupted just about every industry that relies on in-person or face-to-face work, there have been plenty of complaints about “labor shortages.” But not nearly enough discussion about what it takes to compete for labor. Read the entire article here.

It is not exactly news to say clean energy could transform our region’s economy. In 2019, nearly half of Minnesota’s power came from sources like wind and solar. The state’s wind generation capacity is nationally ranked in the top 10 and North and South Dakota are not far behind. And recent research has shown that investments in this emerging sector would create more jobs — and more economic growth — than comparable investments in fossil fuel power generation. Indeed, some analysts have noted that the cost of building solar and wind facilities has plunged 72% to 90% over the past decade. Wind and solar are cheaper than existing coal plants and competitive with natural gas and nuclear alternatives. However, there are very real challenges that could threaten this progress. Read the entire article here