Sheboygan is 'Someplace Better'

Business and community leaders have spent many months talking about ways to entice people to come to Sheboygan County.

Jobs are plentiful and local businesses are eager to fill open positions and expand — if only they could build the workforce they need.

“Someplace Better” is an initiative that highlights all the reasons Sheboygan County is a great place to live and work. It’s a nod to the simple fact that most people relocate when they are unsatisfied about a part of their life.

A new website, www.someplacebetter.org, goes into detail about the many positive aspects of life in Sheboygan County — businesses and job openings, schools, parks, neighborhoods and housing, health care, shopping, arts and culture and much more.

Of course, the job usually comes first for people planning to relocate. No matter how splendid the quality of life, if a person can’t make a living in his new community, he won’t stay long.

Sheboygan County is in the perfect position to welcome people relocating here.

Between 2011 and now, job growth in Sheboygan County is at 7.3 percent, outpacing Dane and Milwaukee counties. The county is way ahead of the State of Wisconsin, which saw only 3.9 percent job growth in that time.

Sheboygan County is “underwater” when it comes to jobs. In fact, there are roughly 2,000 unemployed people here and more than 2,400 job openings within driving distance. The county continues to add about 1,000 new jobs each year, so the problem will continue to grow unless the effort to attract more workers to the area succeeds.

Of the thousands of job opportunities available in Sheboygan County, only about 5 percent of them are considered seasonal or temporary and more than 35 percent of them require four-year degrees.

The largest areas of job growth have been in the insurance and finance industry as well as manufacturing, where many jobs pay more than $35,000 per year to starting entry-level employees.

The Someplace Better campaign is being used by area employers to help market their available jobs and Sheboygan County’s suitability as a new home.

Employers aren’t the only people who should use www.someplacebetter.org, however. The best recruiters are the ones in the cubicles or on the factory floor. We hope that all the residents of Sheboygan County will visit and share the website, and the enthusiasm, with the people they know who want a change of scenery.

The Someplace Better campaign is important partly because we need to showcase the wide range of job and career opportunities we offer. It is also an effort to show an accurate picture of the community to people from other states, who tend to have preconceived — and incorrect — ideas of what life in Wisconsin is like.

Someplace Better is all about showing that in Sheboygan County, the American dream is still possible.

Dane Checolinski is the director of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. He may be contacted at 920-946-9378 or checolinski@sheboygancountyedc.com.