HURON – Enrolling in nursing school is a sure bet in terms of landing a job in Huron because there are 24 openings at medical facilities.
There’s a need to fill 14 nursing assistant positions. Food preparation and food service places are looking for 17 people.
Want to be trained as a parts salesperson? There are 14 openings in town.
Twenty people are needed as electrical and electronic equipment assemblers. Construction laborers are in demand.
As of the last week of August, Huron companies were hoping for applications to fill 399 jobs.
That doesn’t include the jobs that aren’t listed with the Department of Labor, which Greater Huron Development Corporation estimates to be another 100 openings.
Companies will typically train the right people for the positions they have open.
But are the people even out there?
The Department of Labor says Huron’s unemployment rate is 2.6 percent. It’s about the same for Beadle County. The state’s unemployment rate is 3 percent.
“What’s scary is there’s just not a lot out there as far as people who have skill sets that can go into the employment world as we see it today,” said Jim Borszich, president and chief executive officer of GHDC.
Current job openings at local businesses, industries and agencies run the gamut.
They include teachers and teacher assistants, food science technicians, maids, cashiers, stock clerks, highway maintenance workers, truck drivers cement masons and concrete finishers and mechanics.

There are even seven openings for bartenders.
People often say the jobs are low quality and low paying.
When Borszich hears that, he points to the openings such as the number of nurses that are needed.
“Those are good jobs. Those are outstanding jobs,” he said.
But the low unemployment rate – virtually zero – begs the question: What can be done?
“Everyone of my counterparts in South Dakota is facing the same problem, without question,” Borszich said. “Some are even worse than others.
“With a state unemployment rate of 3 percent, the workforce has been tapped,” he said. “So consequently we have to look at doing things differently. Or recruiting differently.”
GHDC works with local companies every day. Many are looking at automation.
“Automation is going to be, I think, in the next five and 10 years something that’s going to be looked at heavily,” Borszich said.
“I think some of the companies that are trying to get ahead of the curve understand that you just can’t snap your fingers and all of a sudden you’re going to have 300 or 400 people come to town. That’s just not going to happen,” he said.
Borszich said the development corporation has worked with industries on interim financing for specialized equipment.
While he hates to say it, it might mean that 10 jobs are now consolidated into one.
“But the employer didn’t have any choice because they couldn’t find the 10 people in the first place,” he said.
Is higher wages the answer in recruiting people to move to Huron? Maybe, he said. But the individual may not want to stay, or his or her spouse may not be able to find a position they like.
There are examples of companies in town that look at kids who grew up here and went off to college elsewhere in South Dakota or out of state.
They are recruited to come back home after graduation to fill positions. In exchange for a commitment to do that, they are getting help paying their tuition.
Up until a couple years ago when cattle and grain prices sank, there was quite a bit of movement of young people coming back to the farm, Borszich said.
On the list of job openings at the state Department of Labor, there are 107 different categories of employment needs.
There’s no doubt that the need for willing workers is considerable.
But the answer may not be so clear.
      
Photos by Roger Larsen of the Plainsman
Foundation work for one of the townhouses at Wheatgrass Village in the Southtown Addition are proceeding. Construction laborers are among numerous employment opportunities available in Huron, which has extremely low unemployment at the present time.