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Worker shortage top of mind for employers

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (The Buffalo News) — With the region's unemployment rate running at historic lows, companies are scrambling to recruit and keep talent.

But it's a complex problem for employers to solve.

"We cannot ignore that we live in a region where the workforce participation rate is less than the national average," Dottie Gallagher, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership's president and CEO, said Thursday. "There are significant systemic barriers that block too many people from participating more fully in the workforce system."

Employers are trying everything from higher pay to flexible hours to signing bonuses. Gallagher, in the business group's annual report to membership, touched on other efforts to build up the workforce.

Read more here.

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