The unemployment rate fell to 3.5
percent, down from 3.7
percent. That is the
lowest level since 1969.
We just saw a fantastic job report.
You know, 50 year
low unemployment rate.
We have a 50 year
low for the unemployment rate.
Wages have risen 3.4
percent over the last year.
If you look at wage and isolation,
you do have individuals that will
move for twenty five cents.
Fifty cents an hour. I
mean, that's that's real.
This is the brand new
break room at Marvin.
Marvin isn't a tech startup.
It's not a
boutique creative agency.
It's not a Gen Z digital outlet.
Marvin is a fourth-generation
family-owned manufacturing company
headquartered in War Road, a
remote town in northern Minnesota.
Like, really remote, so remote that Marvin
had to fly us up there on
a private company plane
to shoot this story.
Marvin makes windows and doors and they've
been doing it for a while.
Think over a hundred years based
in the same remote northern
Minnesota town the whole time.
And their employees, well, they've been
there a while to get here.
Twenty five years of
14 years of service.
I've been married for
almost 13 years.
Even with a loyal workforce.
Marvin and other manufacturers find
themselves squeezed by this
historically tight labor market where
unemployment is low and workers
have more job opportunities.
And not just workers in
San Francisco and New York.
Even in this rural Midwestern town
with more than seventeen hundred
people, that sits six miles
from the Canadian border.
So just like the big guys in
the most populous cities, Marvin had to
get creative. The strong U.S.
economy has led to
a tight labor market.
That means there are more jobs
available than workers to fill them.
Unemployment came in at 3.5
percent in December 2019 .
That's a 50-year-low.
There have been more job openings
than unemployed people since early
2018. And the manufacturing
industry is not immune.
In fact, those numbers are
even more dire for employers.
In December 2019.
The unemployment rate in the
manufacturing space was sitting around
2.7 percent.
The labor market for this industry
has been getting tighter and
tighter. Since 2010, we've had
unemployment rates underneath four
percent. Sixteen out of
the last 18 months.
These are tight labor markets.
Firms are competing for 4
four workers in their training.
Any margin they could do
to successfully compete for them.
That competition comes
in many forms.
Some employers are
easing hiring requirements.
A 2019 survey found that 62
percent of employers would hire workers
with less than the required
experience, and larger companies have
gotten more creative about how they
attract and keep their talent.
Aol routinely hosts
lip sync competitions.
Adobe built meditation rooms.
Intel offers free
on site carwashes.
But many of those companies have
at least one thing in common.
They're in big cities
with lots of workers.
But Marvin isn't.
The company employs more than
2000 people in their Warroad
facilities. That's more than the
entire population of the town.
This means that even in a
less competitive economy, they would still
need to attract workers from
outside of War Road.
And even though some manufacturers have
laid off workers in recent
months, unemployment throughout manufacturing
industry employees is
still low and competition for these workers
is as fierce as ever in
the northern Minnesota region.
Polaris, the multi-billion dollar
ATV and snowmobile manufacturer,
has a factory just 20 miles
down the road in Roseau, Minnesota.
It's about a 26 minute
drive away around northern Minnesota.
The jobs are available all
over the place up there.
So that's one of the things that
is hard to retain people and keep
people in the area. One way that
Marvin does compete right now is on
salary. Starting pay at
Marvin is between $15.25
and $18.25 per hour.
That's higher than the Minnesota minimum
wage, which is $10 per hour.
But with unemployment at
a historic low.
Marvin is stepping up its game.
Part of that strategy turned the
factory into a place where people
enjoy spending their time.
That brand new break
room that Marvin built.
There's a reason it looks like it would
fit right in at the Airbnb or
Google offices.
It's because Marvin went on a
design inspiration, tour right through
Silicon Valley. We've been to
Google, we've been to Pinterest,
Airbnb. The space
uses Swedish design.
It has pastel colors, a communal
meeting table, new booths, power
outlets and one employee favorite.
Lots of new microwaves.
Marvin also cut into the ceiling
of the plant to add skylights.
The only way to get natural light
into a room located in the middle
of a building. It may have been
a wise decision, according to the
Harvard Business Review, "Comfortable light"
is an important wellness
perk to 50 percent of workers."
I definitely like how bright it is.
It seems so gloomy and dudgeon
before project involves renovating all
the bathrooms in the building, some
of which hadn't been remodeled
since the 60s.
Marfan's also adding private telephone
booths on the floor and
updating the offerings
for new mothers.
The idea for the lactation pods
came from our our H.R.
team that supports
the operations group.
And I received an email from a
couple of them and had indicated A
there is a need, but
then be in an airport.
We saw one of these mobile pods and
they said, well, could we give it
a try? And Marvin isn't just
making changes to its physical
workspaces. The company is also
experimenting with a revamped work
schedule. Marvin introduced a new
long weekend shift, offering
employees flexibility and
work life balance.
Jenna Kendrick was born in Warroad and
has worked at Marvin for six
years. Earlier this year, she left her
job as a production senior to
become the weekend to lead her team
of six works 12-hour shifts on
Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Not having to find somebody to drive
my children to their events has
been just a big relief and also
being able to see them play their
games because most of their summer
events games are during the week.
I also have a younger my
youngest, he is seven years old.
He is home, and when my two
oldest are out playing sports, I have
nobody to watch him. So
that's another really flexible scheduling
isn't unique to Marvin.
Non-traditional perks like flexible
scheduling, fitness incentives
and onsite healthy food options.
Top U.S. workers wishlists.
According to a 2019 survey, Marvin's
efforts appear to be working, at
least with their current employees.
The renovations and updated
shift schedules are popular.
It shows that they care when you get
to come and enjoy your break in
here. The atmosphere and
even the bathroom.
Marvin declined to disclose the exact
cost of their renovations, but
promised the commitment they're
making is, "not small."
But if they're already spending all
that money, could the answer to
hiring and retaining employees be as
simple as just giving everybody
a raise? We make sure we're
providing meaningful work for a fair
wage. I don't think
things are siloed.
I don't think it's this or this.
It's a blend of many things.
So provide a total
experience for the employee.
In addition to trying to
create that total experience, the
renovations will also likely be cheaper
for Marvin than an across the
board raise. Economists say that
nontraditional perks let companies
improve and employees time at work.
But more importantly, those perks
don't drag down company profits.
So when they do a wage increase, what
they do is to change the nature
of the bargain with an employee
that becomes the new base.
So that's part of the
whole cost of doing business.
It eats into their profit margin,
which how slim their margins in
terms of where they operate say
in a very competitive environment, If
they do a benefit, kind of a
one off benefit, such as something like
having these really beautiful break
rooms and things like that.
There is an investment. But
it's not a continual contribution
necessarily to a higher pay scale
to maintain to maintain that
business. Even if employees are
happy, there's another problem,
decades in the making.
Manufacturing workers and the towns
that housed them are getting
older. According to a 2016
study, 27 percent of manufacturing
employees are 55 and older, meaning the
industry is facing a wave of
retirements in the next
decade or even sooner.
Marvin knows this.
It's another reason behind
the renovation decision.
Marvin has been blessed that we have
so many employees who have been
here decades upon
decades upon decades.
Remember? Twenty five years I have
fourteen years of service, almost
13 years. But there's an inevitable
downside to celebrating so many
multidecade work anniversaries.
But we are making decisions and
we're looking at our shift schedules
with different ways to accommodate
and look at the incoming
generations as well as our current generations
do, so that we can be
a desirable place where,
you know, people are.
They're coming here and not just to
do a job, but they feel connected
in a broader way to our
purpose and what we're doing.
Polaris, the snowmobile company with a
plant in nearby Roseau, is
also feeling the pressure.
We had reached out and partnered
with 31 different schools, doing
about a two hour radio global call
to ensure that we've got the
connection to the relationships and
are not only supporting, but
building in the interests of
bringing students in through internships
throughout the summer, providing a look for
them to see that it's not
a job that blurs
that it's a career.
Roseau County, which includes both Warroad
and Roseau, has its own
initiatives to attract new talent
to that rural region.
The City of Roseau estimates the
area loses around three quarters of
its 18 to 22 year old
population when they leave for college.
They're focused on drawing those people
back to small town life in
their late 20s when they have
kids and are looking for stability.
The county runs a downpayment assistance
program aimed at helping new
residents purchase a home and put
down roots in the area.
The revolving loan program provides
eligible candidates with up to
$7,500 to be used
for a down payment.
Funding comes in part from major
employers in the area, including
both Polaris and Marvin.
These northern Minnesota initiatives are
part of a larger nationwide
trend. The Kansas Commerce Department offers
up to $15,000 in student
loan repayments for individuals who move
to one of its 80 rural
counties and in the Northeast.
Vermont is putting up
cold, hard cash.
The state's program offers new residents
$10,000 over two years in an
attempt to draw people to
an aging state with 2.3
percent unemployment by 2030.
Twenty four percent of Vermont's population
will be over 65, up from
just 13 percent in 2006.
Those initiatives may be working.
Millennials are leaving big cities
by the thousands in 2018.
Nearly twenty seven thousand people aged
25 to thirty nine left
cities like New York and San
Francisco for more family friendly and
affordable places to live.
It was the fourth year in
a row these urban centers.
Other young adult
population shrink.
Christine Marvin says attracting those
young workers to Warroad will
be a part of Marvins next chapter.
We're going a new age, right?
And we're in such a
fast paced digital world.
And now we're experiences, you know,
our king alongside, you know,
the products, quality products we create
that we're in a unique
position to help, you know, make the
make the future real and help
drive us into that, you
know, that next generation.
And if the future is modern
break rooms, mobile lactation pods, small
like bathrooms and schedules aimed
at work life balance, Warroad,
Minnesota just might be able to give
those big cities a run for their
money. Invest in you.
Ready, Set.
Grow CNBC and acorns.
