Help wanted

He's not finished counting, but Tom Fitzgerald believes at least 7,600 new jobs are headed to northern Nevada in the next 18 months.

The problem, he says, is that only 13,800 people are unemployed in the 13 counties of northern Nevada.

"And you don't get workers from the unemployed," says Fitzgerald, the chief executive officer of Nevadaworks, the agency that's charged with developing a workforce for northern Nevada.

The Nevada Commission on Economic Development, growing increasingly concerned about tight labor supplies in the northern part of the state, committed itself to hearing from experts during the next couple of months as it begins to develop a strategy.

Already,members of the commission are spinning out ideas.

Nevada might send recruiters to high school job fairs in neighboring states to tell youngsters about the opportunities in Nevada, says Leroy Goodman of Fernley, a Lyon County commissioner who sits on the economic development commission.

Nevada employers also among the school districts," he says."We're all in this ballgame together." Another possibility, Goodman says, is the use of real estate agents to spread the word about employment opportunities especially among the early retirees in their 40s and 50s who are moving to the state.

And Berlyn Miller, a member of the economic development commission from Las Vegas, suggests that the state focus on underemployed workers such as folks in the tourism industry who might have skills to handle other jobs.

"We have a workforce in this community that is not visible to the companies moving to this community," he said.

A study in northern Nevada four years ago found that some 30,000 people are underemployed, says Fitzgerald.

While much of the discussion of tight labor markets has focused on Reno and Carson City where the jobless rate has been around 4 percent or less for many months Fitzgerald says rural areas also feel a pinch.

"Their job situation is so critical it exceeds anything in the urbanized area," he says.

In outlying areas, the problems are twofold: The gold industry needs highly specialized workers, such as underground miners, and small towns don't have enough housing for a fast growing labor force.

In cities and rural areas alike, Nevadaworks now is willing to work with employers who are recruiting workers from out of state, Fitzgerald says.

Just as economic development advertising needed to change the image of Nevada before it opened the door to recruit new companies, he says ads directed to potential workers in other states may need to start by changing how they envision the state.

In coming months, the economic development commission plans to hear from educators as well as executives involved in the battle to recruit workers.

"We need a thinking change among