Last month the Chamber hosted Mark Lautman, author of the book When the Boomers Bail. I wrote about the book in a previous post, which you can find here. It was an interesting opportunity to hear first-hand from an expert on community economics and workforce / demographic changes.
The very short version is that communities will be engaged in talent wars to find enough people with the skills for local employers. There will be winner and loser as companies cast their recruitment nets far and wide. Community quality of life and affordability will be key factors.
Lautman largely believes that Fort Collins will be fine in this talent war. For the most part, I agree with him. I am less confident because housing costs and availability, left unaddressed, might be a barrier to the young demographic we want to attract and retain.
We did tape the event and you can watch it at the link on this page.