Some St. Louis industries buck the unemployment trend

Job growth since at the time has been painfully slow and uneven, nevertheless afew companies and sectors have bucked that gloomy trend. Whileindustries like construction and manufacturing have laid off ten ofthousands, sectors just as health care and education have addedjobs while the recession, along with some information technologyand brokerage services firms.

The mismatch of skills among laid-off workers

The mismatch of skills among laid-off workers and the employmentopportunities in growing industries has created a painful paradox:dozens of unemployed workers competing for a single job, whilebusinesses find themselves unable to find the right workers formany other positions.

Some industries never saw a recession - hospital and nursinghome employment here is up by 10,000 jobs, or more than 10 percent,since December 2007, when the Great Recession started. Informationtechnology businesses are growing - and straining to find qualifiedworkers. Local stock brokerages are on a hiring roll.

Meanwhile, St. Louis has a growing cluster of data-centers andcloud computing businesses, and they're hungry for skilled workers.The companies are drawn to St. Louis by comparatively cheapelectricity and a mid-continent location with goodtelecommunications connections.

The past five years

Xiolink has seen its business grow near 30 percent per yearfor the past five years. It hires software and systems engineersand technicians, paying about $75,000.

Scottrade, has trouble hiring information technologyspecialists. "The schools are not cranking them out," she says. "Weare as a matter of fact hoping that the schools will teach what we want them toteach. And we need parents to steer students into it."

The relative stability of the health care industry has createdopportunities for small businesses like Dynalabs. Back in 2003, theFood and Drug Administration began demanding that compoundingpharmacies test the drugs they make. Shoddy drugs had sickened andkilled patients.

Big helping hand from the government

They got a big helping hand from the government. Dynalabs set upshop in a small-business incubator run by St. Louis and St. LouisCounty, which as well provided early stage loans. The U.S. SmallBusiness Administration guaranteed two other loans. The stateprovided tax credits for equipment.