Cape County workers shifting to health care sector

What Cape Girardeau County has lost in manufacturing jobs over the last few years it has made up for in the health care sector. Overall, there are about the same number of people working in Cape Girardeau today as there were in 2004.

A total of 1,447 more people in Cape Girardeau County were employed in health care services, including hospitals and nursing homes, in 2009 than in 2004, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. Almost half of the county's 34,093 private-sector workers -- 16,164 in all -- were employed in health care-related fields in 2009.

Last year, Cape Girardeau County had 3,657 people, or 10.7 percent of its workers, employed in manufacturing, according to the research center. That's 1,558 fewer than in 2004.

"Employment has been falling in this sector for years due to growing competitiveness from overseas companies and increasing productivity, which allows the sector to produce more output with fewer workers," said Dr. Bruce Domazlicky, director of the Small Business and Research Center at Southeast Missouri State University.

Many of the manufacturing jobs lost in Cape Girardeau County are gone for good, Domazlicky said.

"It's hard for local companies to compete with Mexico, China or India on an hour-to-hour rate," said Mitch Robinson, executive director of Cape Girardeau Area Magnet.

"Will we get additional manufacturing jobs into the community? Yes, we will. There are some products due to delivery, shipping and quality issues that cannot be made overseas," Robinson said.

The construction industry lost 345 workers in the past five years, falling from 2,153 people in 2004 to 1,808 in 2009.

The number of retail employees in Cape Girardeau County declined only slightly in 2009 compared to five years ago. In 2009, 5,511 people were employed in retail, down from 5,529 in 2004.

Cape Girardeau County's growing health care industry is in line with national trends, Domazlicky said.

"At one point job growth in the U.S. could be explained totally by health care. All other sectors about balanced out between increasing and decreasing employment," he said.

Cape Girardeau County's two largest employers are Saint Francis Medical Center, with 2,460 employees and Southeast Missouri Hospital with 2,259 employees.

In the past five years, Southeast Missouri Hospital added 573 jobs, said Mark Bliss, hospital spokesman. The majority of that growth has been in nursing positions, he said.

Saint Francis also has added staff, including 107 new positions for medical professionals from August 2009 to August 2010.

The trend is likely to continue.

"As baby boomers reach retirement, the number of people needing more frequent medical care for longer terms will increase," said Teri Kreitzer, director of human resources at Saint Francis Medical Center.

Federal health care reform will also lead to more demand for health care professionals, she said.

Money Magazine's naming last year of Cape Girardeau as one of the top 25 places to retire may also place more demand on the local health care industry.

In August, the U.S. Commerce Department released statistics showing the Cape Girardeau area was one of five metropolitan statistical areas nationwide that had more earnings growth in the private sector than in government jobs in 2009.

However, compared to 2004, the number of local government workers increased by 247 people for a total of 2,657 in 2009, MERIC data shows. The number of state employees grew from 2,410 in 2004 to 2,560 in 2009.

Federal stimulus funds may have created and preserved government jobs, but that job growth is likely to end, Domazlicky said.

"With stimulus money running out, cities and states are going to have some difficult choices in the next fiscal year," he said. "We will likely see some retrenchment over the next year or so unless there is a dramatic improvement in the economy and, therefore, state revenue collections."

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Pertinent addresses:

1701 Lacey St., Cape Girardeau, MO

211 Saint Francis Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO