The rap against older workers — that they are expensive, unimaginative and afraid of technology — may be shifting as businesses feel the pinch of a tighter labor market. Some hiring managers now are talking about extending the work “life cycle” to help older workers stay on the job longer and to convince experienced retirees to return. 

Canada-based Pizzey Ingredients will invest $3.2 million and hire 14 people to operate a new milling facility in Delano. Company officials said they plan to build a 20,000-square-foot flaxseed-processing plant in the West Metro Business Park. The new jobs will pay wages averaging $22.67 an hour. DEED is supporting the project with a $196,969 grant from the Job Creation Fund.

Opportunity Zones are a new community development program established by Congress to encourage long-term investments in low-income and urban communities nationwide. In Minnesota, Gov. Dayton may  designate 123 census tracts as Opportunity Zones. To help the governor decide which areas should be designated, first-class cities, counties and tribal nations are being asked to recommend eligible census tracts in their county, city, tribal land or region. The deadline for recommendations to the governor is March 8. The DEED website has maps and details on how to complete the recommendation process.

With the state unemployment rate down to 3.1 percent, businesses have to be more creative to attract job candidates. The result is a number of new trends in the recruiting process. They include job-tracking platforms, interactions with chatbots and more. Learn about these and other innovations at MinnesotaWorks.net.