Labor Shortage Seen Despite High Unemployment
BOSTON (AP) -- Despite high unemployment in the region, experts see a labor shortage looming in New England.
Alicia Sasser Modestino, author of a Federal Reserve study, said the population has declined steadily in Massachusetts and other New England states over recent decades and baby boomers are getting set to retire in coming years.
She says the result could be a shortfall of as many as 780,000 skilled workers by 2018, especially for jobs such as surgical
assistants, preschool teachers, lab technicians, legal secretaries and office administrators.
The shortage of workers could hurt the region's competitiveness in some cutting-edge industries.
Other professions experiencing shortages were pharmacists, physical therapists, database administrators and other positions requiring college-level education.
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