TOO MANY JOBS: AREA ABOUNDS IN OPENINGS FOR ENTRY-LEVEL JOBS

Industrial and business development and an unemployment rate that has dipped to near record lows have combined to make the Southeast Missouri job market the toast of job-seekers.

"Cape Girardeau and Perry counties are not alone in this respect," said Jackie Cecil of the Missouri Job Service office in Cape Girardeau. "This is something we're seeing in a lot of in Missouri and the nation."

The trend of more jobs than workers started about a year ago and is continuing.

Shari Kertez of the Illinois Department of Employment Security says the worker shortage is something she has seen in all parts of the state, from smaller communities to the metropolitan area of Chicago.

Sandra M. Moore, director of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, reported strong employment growth during 1994, adding that December 1994 payrolls counted 67,000 more jobs than December of 1993.

The problem is also familiar to John Mehner of Cape Girardeau; JoAnn Sumner of Perryville; W. G. Hoffman of Hermann; Barbara Larkins of Cape Girardeau; and many others associated with business and job development.

"The economy has been good throughout the nation," said Mehner, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. "This has resulted in expansions of existing industries and businesses, creating a need for workers."

The local chamber is developing strategies to bring new workers to the area. In addition to working with the Cape Girardeau Area Personnel Association, the chamber board has approved the Community Based Economic Development Plan, which will go into effect this year and will help existing and new industry.

The chamber compiles of list of people who have expressed an interest in moving to the community.

"We give this list to industries and businesses," said Mehner. "Just recently it has resulted in some new employees for area companies."

The chamber is also looking into possibilities of conducting "job fairs" to attract more workers to the area.

Two Cape County manufacturers looking for workers are Thorngate, Ltd., with operations at Cape Girardeau and Chaffee, and Lee-Rowan Co., at Jackson.

Manufacturers in Perryville have conducted two job fairs, at Carbondale, Ill. and Azora, Mo.

"Response to the job fairs has been good," said Sumner, director of the Perry County Industrial Development Authority.

The agency recently hired the consulting firm Midwest Research Institute to determine why Perryville's population growth hasn't kept pace with industrial growth.

"We're looking to the future," Sumner said. "We feel this study will help Perryville in promoting itself as a great community to work and live."

Even part-time and temporary help is scarce throughout the nation these days.

A number of businesses which formerly used many part-time workers have had to take on more permanent employees.

"We need 100 workers," said Barbara Larkins of the Manpower, Inc., office in Cape Girardeau. Manpower has been running full-page advertisements in area newspapers seeking temporary workers in the Cape Girardeau area. It offers $6 an hour and a benefits package. "We have flexible schedules." she said.

Many lower-end jobs are paying $5 and $6 an hour instead of the minimum wage of $4.25, a figure that would go to $5.15 over the next two years under a proposal by President Bill Clinton.

Clinton's plan is to increase the minimum wage by 90 cents an hour in two increments over a two-year period.

A large percentage of workers make more than the present $4.25 minimum. More than 90 percent of Illinois workers are above the minimum wage.

"Companies are going to have to pay more than the minimum wage," said James Harris, manager of the Employment Security office in Urbana, Ill. "With so many jobs out there, people can pick and choose and it's an ongoing battle filling minimum-wage jobs."

For some lower-paying employers, the drawback is that workers keep leaving for better jobs.

Employers in many fields continue to look for ways to attract workers.

At Hermann, Mo., a plant manager placed help-wanted ads in newspapers 100 miles away and hired "anybody that walked through the door." Still, his plant is short of workers.

Frank Adams visited Puxico, a small town which suffered the closing of a clothing plant. He hired eight workers in one day for Thorngate, Ltd.

A "Grow With St. Louis' Job Fair is on the early March schedule. This one requires a $3 fee from persons looking for a job or a better job.

The St. Louis fair will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 3 at the Cervantes Convention Center in downtown St. Louis. Many of the city's employers will be available. For additional details, call 1-800-994-JOBS.