CARTHAGE, Mo. — The May 22 tornado changed some employment trends, but there also have been other factors affecting employment and the region’s work force.

The topics were among those discussed Thursday at the Southwest Missouri Work Force Summit, held at Fairview Christian Church. The event is produced by the Workforce Investment Board of Southwest Missouri and the Missouri Career Center.

Jasen Jones, executive director of the Workforce Investment Board, presented highlights of a survey of 142 employers.

COMPETITION INCREASE

“We’ve had a lot of increased competition for the labor pool that’s out there” because of the tornado, Jones said. He said contractors especially have said there’s more competition for workers because of the flood of workers coming to town after the tornado.

Some manufacturers also reported increased difficulty in recruiting because of the increase in construction and recovery jobs after the tornado.

Jones said there is a pool of workers who follow natural disasters from location to location.

Jones said immediately after the tornado, the Workforce Investment Board had estimated that 4,500 jobs would be lost.

“We’re so thrilled we were wrong about that,” Jones said. He said the initial job loss was about 1,500.

“We’ve had a lot of sector shifts in the work force” related to the tornado, Jones said.

Jamie Hirshey, compensation and recruitment coordinator for Freeman Health System, talked by phone apart from the summit about the hospital’s changing employment needs. Hirshey said that with St. John’s Medical Center destroyed, there was a big demand on Freeman. Hirshey said the hospital formulated a recruitment strategy to quickly hire workers and get them on the floor.

Between May 22 and Thursday, Freeman has hired 201 registered nurses, and 17 physicians and residents. For the same period the previous year, Freeman hired 100 nurses, and 14 physicians and residents.

“It has leveled off some in that the sense or urgency and dire need has eased up,” Hirshey said. She said the recruitment strategy had been maintained and expanded to reach potential applicants outside the area. She said a building addition at the hospital would bring other employment.

A source of jobs for those affected by the tornado has been the Missouri Disaster Recovery Jobs Program, through a $12 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Jones said the program has been extended through June 2013.

JOBS FOR UNEMPLOYED

He said the jobs first went to those who were unemployed because of the tornado, then to the long-term unemployed.

“It provided us the opportunity to give jobs to the unemployed,” he said. He said the workers in the program are limited to a six-month stint. Jones said many have “graduated” to jobs with area companies.

“We’ve had some good placement and good feedback from employers,” Jones said.

The survey also found that production jobs are in high demand now and in the future. Of the employers surveyed, 73 percent said their future ability to recruit unskilled labor was fair or good, and 84 percent said their future ability to recruit skilled labor was fair or good.

Jones also discussed types of skills employers are seeking. He divided them into four categories: basic skills, including general education and language skills; soft skills, including things like work habits and what participants described as “playing well with others;” thinking skills, including problem solving and creative thinking; and technical skills, including computing and skilled trades.

Soft skills are the most in demand now, but technical skills will be as much in demand in the future. Jones said soft skills are difficult to determine in tests or interviews.

Jones said the businesses surveyed rely upon on-the-job training, classroom training and online training, or a combination. Outside sources of training include the local Missouri Career Center, Franklin Technology Center, Missouri Southern State University and Pittsburg State University. Jones said university outreach and extension services are underused for training purposes.

There also was a lot of information about ACT Inc. initiatives used by some area companies, including WorkKeys, a job skill profiling system. It determines the skills companies need for specific positions and allows the companies to screen applicants for those skills when hiring. A panel comprising Suzanne Baucom, of Bemis Inc., Sharon Beasley, of General Dynamics, and Amber Robertson, of Ceradyne Boron Products, praised the system.

“Job profiling is a wonderful tool to tell us what that person’s skill capabilities are going to be,” Beasley said.

It also was announced at the summit that Missouri has applied to be included in ACT’s Certified Work Ready Communities initiative. Among the benefits promoted is that the initiative will give economic developers another marketing tool to promote their work force.