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The State We’re In program

The State We’re In host Melanie Plenda is joined by staff writer at NH Business Review Bob Sanders, executive director at the nonprofit Stay Work Play Will Stewart, and recent graduate of Franklin Pierce University Jalen Beliveau, to discuss New Hampshire growing need for younger residents.

This content has been edited for length and clarity. Watch the full interview on NH PBS's The State We’re In.

Melanie Plenda: Will, tell us more about your organization, Stay Work Play, because it's really at the heart of what we're talking about here.

Will Stewart: Our entire mission is to attract and retain more young people. We do that in a variety of ways. One is marketing and branding the state as a place of opportunity for young people as a place of opportunity to have a job and build a career, but also to build a life and to have fun. We’re really promoting New Hampshire as that place where people can self-actualize, self-realize, and live out their American dream. We also work to make it a place where people can live that want to live here. We do nonpartisan issues-based advocacy on issues that affect the attraction of retention of young people here. Finally, we work to connect young people to help them put down roots in New Hampshire so that when those opportunities do come up for them to to leave, at least they give it a second thought and recognize that that they've already done so much here in New Hampshire.

Melanie Plenda: Can you talk to us a little bit about those issues that you're saying are nonpartisan issues you advocate for that are part of the challenge?

Will Stewart: A lot of us know that New Hampshire is such a great place, but I'm reminded of a comment that I heard from a young woman in the Upper Valley at a focus group we held pre-COVID. She was speaking about the Upper Valley in particular, but I think it applies to New Hampshire at large. She said, the Upper Valley is a wonderful place to raise a family, but it's a terrible place to try and start one. There are a number of reasons for that. First and foremost is the cost of housing here in New Hampshire, particularly for young people. It's expensive for everybody as we've seen rent and the price of real estate skyrocket and young people on starter salaries just can't afford it.

We're also number one in the average student debt load here in New Hampshire. The fact we don't have public transportation means that most young people probably have a car payment. All of these things in combination make New Hampshire a very expensive place to live. In addition to things like housing and student debt and the cost of college education here, we also have childcare affordability and availability challenges that all in all make New Hampshire a challenging place for people who want to live here.

Melanie Plenda: Why is a disproportionately large aging population, a concern? What sorts of strain does that put on the state or the economy?

Will Stewart: With regard to the economy I talk to employers and HR professionals all over the state and in a variety of industries who just can't find the employees that they need, some at any price. Ffor some companies, it means they can't expand if and when they want to. For others, it means they can't keep pace with the current demand. For still others, it means they might not be able to stay in business, at least not here in New Hampshire. If that plays out, we're talking about a spiraling downward effect on the economy.

I think that younger people are needed to most immediately fill all of the holes that are being left by the retiring baby boomers. I'm not just talking about jobs, I'm also talking about community and civic society as a whole. Who's going to fill the ranks of the rotary club? Who's going to sit on the committees and boards of the non-profits on whom we depend disproportionately here in New Hampshire? Who's going to pass the collection plate at church? Who's going to serve on the local planning and zoning boards? We need people period, and more younger people in particular.

Melanie Plenda: Jaylen, as a recent graduate I know you've looked for a job here in this state, so why are you trying to stay? Do you think most of your class classmates would like to stay as well?

Jalen Beliveau: I’m personally trying to stay because this is where I live. This is where my family is. I just got an apartment in New Hampshire, so finding a job close by would benefit me. My other classmates are also moving back home or they're getting apartments within the state. A lot of my friends in college didn't live in New Hampshire and they're moving to New Hampshire because they get all their connections during school here and they want to stay and build. I don't want to move somewhere else and have to start brand new. I want to start in a place that I already know.

Melanie Plenda: What has it been like searching for a job here? Post-Graduation can you tell us some about some of the challenges for you and your friends and classmates?

Jalen Beliveau: A lot of my challenges have been when I'm looking, I'll get a job offer but then the offer won't work with my schedule or they want me to work the worst hours or something like that. That's difficult because a lot of the jobs I'm applying for I want to work full-time, but a lot of them are just part-time. With a part-time job affording rent and all of that stuff, I have to work a second job and the hours conflict with that. I just got a job offer that wanted me to work 3:00 PM to midnight. With that second job, that'd be difficult because my second jobs are usually waitressing, and I can't work 3:00 PM to midnight and then go to a different job after that.

Melanie Plenda: Does that mean you're looking for jobs outside of the state as well, and would that mean leaving the state? What would those considerations entail?

Jalen Beliveau: I have been looking outside the state mostly because of the offers I've gotten on pay. That would mean I'd probably have to move, I'd have to commute, and with gas prices I'd have to consider that within my pay. I am looking outside the state mostly because it has a little bit more to offer at this time.

Melanie Plenda: Bob, what are other factors that might attract young people like Jalen to the state?

Bob Sanders: She just said it; they're paying better elsewhere. You’ve got to be able to make a living here but we are just not competitive. That's because we don't believe in lifting the lower rung. I don't think that's going to change any anytime soon. Individual employers can do it, but then they're spending more than other employers. It's hard on their finances. 

We keep on rejecting solutions about allowing more dense populations and making sure that local zoning laws are more accessible to affordable housing. The result is we're about 10,000 workers short of pre-pandemic numbers. There's been more needs and more growth since then. Everybody is super busy and needs more workers than before the pandemic. There's not much we can do except change our mindset and say, why do we have to be the Alabama of New England? We don't have to be Massachusetts, but do we have to stand out this much?

Melanie Plenda: Are you seeing through your reporting any coordinated pushback by businesses? As you said, there were solutions that were proposed for affordable housing, are businesses collectively putting some pressure on those solutions to get those to happen, because that would ultimately help them with the workforce shortages that they have?

Bob Sanders: Business groups have been backing these affordable housing solutions but you also have this big local control. There's a very conservative mindset of ‘we don't want an apartment building in our neighborhood’ that's hard to fight, especially at the local level where we have local control. Some businesses are also reaching out on their own for workers. I just talked to the Home Builders, who support building more houses, and they need young people for their own industry. They're having people retire and they're trying to get people on the trades.

They set up a program working with some colleges to get people directly into the trades and they got seven people. That's not going to make much of a dent in things but seven is better than zero. One thing they're doing is they're going to pride week and go to Caribbean festivals to reach out to populations that normally may not consider construction to also try to get a more diverse population. They just need workers.

Melanie Plenda: Are there any innovative solutions under consideration to help bring younger people to New Hampshire and things people should be aware of or advocate for?

Bob Sanders: There’s a business in the Upper Valley I read about that gets a house so they can put people in, because they kept getting people from out of state who want to work with the company and they can't find a place to live. They have a job offer and in a few months they have to rescind because they can't afford to live near the place or they’re shocked to find the high price of housing here. 

There is a family lead governor's program that was passed and it still has yet to be implemented. There's a lot of debate about whether it's workable, but that's a step in the same direction. It's not as robust as the states around us, but people are expecting things like that. They're expecting that companies provide benefits for families and more flexibility in the wake of the pandemic when people are used to working from home. There are some attempts at this even among conservatives, but it's still hard to compete with the states around us.

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