Good jobs are here in Sussex County

The annual Sussex County Today & Tomorrow Conference at Delaware Technical Community College offers an opportunity for business leaders, politicians, educators and all sorts of professionals to sit down and think about the future of Sussex County.

It’s no surprise the critical issue at this year’s conference mirrors the primary issue facing citizens nationwide: jobs.

Unemployment in Sussex County hovers around 8 percent, beating the national rate by 1 percent, yet still more than double Sussex’s rate in 2007. People are looking for work.
More surprisingly, local employers say their greatest challenge is finding employable workers.

Whether it’s high-tech manufacturing jobs in Seaford or web page design in Georgetown, employers told the same tale: They cannot find qualified candidates in Sussex County.
Don Hollenbeck of Craig Technologies said when he relocated his company from Philadelphia to Seaford in 1998, he was met with job applicants who couldn’t pass a sixth-grade math test. The company was forced to dummy down its manuals and bring in teachers because the workforce couldn’t read manuals or do basic math.

Many at the conference were amazed to learn Craig produces plastic balls used in valves for nuclear power plants worldwide right here in Sussex County, while Miller Metal Manufacturing, now a partner of O.A. Newton in Bridgeville, uses high-tech laser machinery for metal manufacturing.

These and other companies offer good jobs, right here in Sussex.

The message is clear. Even in Sussex County, employers use highly specialized machines to produce highly specialized products. Computer-based companies in Sussex use the same technologies and ask the same cutting-edge questions as those in Boston or Silicon Valley.

It's also clear the future of Sussex County depends on raising the bar in schools and colleges so graduates are ready for work.

Anyone who wants to find a place in today’s workforce has to be able to read instructions, do math, run computers and have the determination to compete with job seekers nationwide and even worldwide.