Mines Dig for Talent
Hibbing, Minn. — Rich Rojeski is mulling over his exit strategy. Maybe a second career selling machinery? What about home prices in Arizona?
Rojeski isn't the only one at Hibbing Taconite Co. practicing his golf swing and surfing the Internet for real estate in warmer climates. Already this year, four colleagues in the maintenance department have retired and at least two others are poised to follow.
"I think they're going to have trouble filling those jobs," said Rojeski, 49, a third-generation miner who celebrated his 30th anniversary at Hibbing Taconite in March.
Northeast Minnesota's iron mining industry is sitting on a demographic time bomb: In the next few years, close to half its workers are going to become eligible for retirement, just as customers in China and India are spurring a boom in demand.
A looming labor shortage has become a concern in many parts of America, as baby boomers exit the workforce en masse, taking with them decades of expertise. In a survey of American manufacturers released last year, 90% reported experiencing a moderate to severe shortage of qualified machinists, technicians and other skilled workers.
Minnesota's sparsely populated Iron Range is particularly vulnerable because its mining and wood-product industries have slashed thousands of jobs in the last two decades and have not brought in younger workers. More than 70% of the region's workers are older than 45.
"It's an old, old workforce," said Matthew Schoeppner, a labor market analyst for the state's Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Although mine managers have seen this retirement exodus coming, planning for it has been difficult because of uncertainty about how many employees will actually head for the door. Protected by seniority clauses in their union contracts and faced with limited alternatives, the production workers have tended to hold onto their jobs.
But mining companies said they could no longer afford to watch and wait, given the strong global demand for their ore. More than half a dozen mining projects are under development, and they are expected to require thousands more workers for construction and operation.
To gear up, the mines are casting more widely to recruit talent, establishing training programs with local colleges and looking for ways to keep experienced workers on the payroll longer.
