Eight things you need to know about Saratoga County's economy.

1. Tech Valley Transportation Summer PILOT program for Saratoga County 

The Saratoga Partnership has been collaborating with the Saratoga County Employment and Training Center, Tech Valley Shuttle, CAPTAIN and private employers to launch a summer PILOT program to connect job seekers who want to work with employers who want talented, motivated employees in Saratoga County. If you are an employer seeking to expand your workforce or would like to assist existing employees with transportation please email Office@techvalleyshuttle.com or call 518-203-8748 for more information.

2. Chip shortage affecting auto, appliance industries

Life is slowly getting back to "normal," but effects of the pandemic still linger. Many industries have been impacted by the global chip shortage and consumer’s bank accounts are feeling it. NewsChannel 13 spoke with GlobalFoundries in Malta to learn more. "I think you've just got a look around you pretty much everything you see has a chip inside it from your phone to your refrigerator cars just about every electronic device that we all have these days,” said Peter Benyon, General Manager at GF Fab 8 in Malta. Click here to read more.

The most critical and widespread challenge facing businesses right now is the inability to hire the qualified workers they need. When businesses do not have enough employees, they are forced to turn down jobs, reduce hours, scale down their operations, and in the worst cases, permanently close. The latest data and surveys reveal a national economic crisis that is getting steadily worse. There were 8.1 million vacant job openings in the United States—a record high—in March 2021, the latest month for which data is available. That’s up more than 600,000 from February. There are approximately half as many available workers for every open job (1.4 available workers/opening) across the country as there have been on average over the past 20 years (2.8 historical average)—and the ratio continues to fall. In several states and several industries, including hard-hit sectors like education and health services as well as professional and business services, there are currently fewer available workers than the total number of jobs open. Click here to read report.

4. What’s driving record industrial real estate demand

A boom in e-commerce and shifting population densities as well increasing transportation costs are making industrial real estate a “can’t miss.” The global pandemic accelerated the growth of e-commerce as lockdowns and safety concerns prompted an increasing number of consumers worldwide to shop online. As a result, several years of online sales growth were condensed into 2020 alone, causing industrial leasing to surge globally as logistics became essential for retailers. Changes in population densities, shifting consumer expectations, and increasing transportation costs all played a role in this rise in industrial property demand. But it’s the need for speed that will shatter industrial CRE pricing. Click here to read more from Area Development.

5. Demand over supply - the specter of inflation

Here’s a simple way to understand the recent rise in inflation: As the pandemic is receding in the U.S., demand for goods and services is rebounding more quickly than the supply of those same goods and services. And when demand outpaces supply, prices rise. More Americans are shopping in stores, eating in restaurants and planning vacations. They are spending some of the savings that they accumulated during the pandemic, including money from government stimulus checks. As my colleague Neil Irwin says, “Demand is not just back but more than back, given the fiscal surge and pent-up savings.” Supply, however, is not back. The pandemic disrupted supply chains for many items, including computer chips, paint, lumber and sneakers. It also disrupted work habits, and not everybody can — or wants to — return immediately to their old jobs. Fed officials updated their inflation forecast, predicted that inflation would remain above 3 percent for much of this year, which is higher than their preferred level of 2 percent. Click here to read more from the New York Times.

6. North American supply chains: will reshoring actually happen

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has led to growing conversations in the US around the rerouting of supply chains from Asia to North America. These discussions had already started pre-pandemic as the US-China trade war simmered, and discussions were further fuelled by the revamped North American-Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that took effect in mid-2020 and the inauguration of Joe Biden as US president in January 2021. In this report, The Economist Intelligence Unit assesses the likelihood of a wholesale rerouting of US supply chains to North America. Even as the US, Mexico and Canada deepen their economic integration, they expect that businesses and investors will continue to favor the convenience, reliability and cost-effectiveness of Asia.

7. NYS economy added 17,500 private sector jobs in May 2021

New York’s Private Sector Jobs Grew by 13.2% Over the Year, Rising Faster Than Nation’s

According to preliminary figures released by the New York State Department of Labor, the number of private sector jobs in New York State increased over the month by 17,500, or 0.2%, to 7,459,100 in May 2021. By comparison, the number of private sector jobs in the U.S. increased by 0.4% in May 2021.

New York State's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased from 8.2% to 7.8% in May 2021.The number of leisure & hospitality jobs increased by 59.8% over the year. Click here for the latest jobs report. Click here for Albany Schenectady Troy MSA data.

Research from the Site Selectors Guild shows how the location decision process is evolving in light of the pandemic and current events, from where site selection consultants are seeing corporate activity to the sectors placing increasing importance on DE&I and sustainability in site selection decisions. The findings from the online survey and one-on-one interviews with Guild members, conducted in late May and early June 2021, are the fourth in a series of research conducted by the Guild in April, June and December 2020 to outline the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and current events on economic development and site selection trends. Click here to get the latest insights.