“Labor is the issue that almost every grower I talk to says is their biggest obstacle to growth,” according to floral industry economic advisor and frequent SAF contributor Charlie Hall, Ph.D.
A major issue keeping a lot of industry growers up at night: labor. Rather, a lack of a reliable labor supply.
That was a not-necessarily surprising but crystal-clear finding in Nursery Management magazine’s recent State of the Industry report, which surveyed a cross section of the nursery industry about issues critical to members’ businesses. The report touches on sales and profit trends, and a host of other issues, but labor worries were a definite takeaway.
“No surprise here,” said floral industry economic advisor Charlie Hall, Ph.D., who weighed in on the report. “Labor is the issue that almost every grower I talk to says is their biggest obstacle to growth.”
Indeed, 39 percent of those surveyed for the report said that “insufficient availability of qualified labor in the market” had caused their location to limit new hires in the past 12 months. Read the full report here.
Interested in more of Hall’s take on the overall economy? Earlier this year he presented “The Economic Effects of Trumponomics,” a policy-focused, decidedly nonpartisan webinar for Society of American Florists members. During the 30-minute session, Hall presented detailed analysis of the current economy and the risk of future recession.
“We are still in recovery, and the rate of recovery is slower than it has been historically,” said Hall, a professor and Ellison Chair in the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M University. “But there are some silver linings.”
