On Tuesday, Governor Phil Scott and Congressman Peter Welch broke ground on a new facility. OnLogic, a global industrial computer manufacturer located in South Burlington is expanding, and the company said it hopes to tackle the workforce shortage by hiring more Vermonters.

Governor Scott says this facility will help grow Vermont’s economy. “As you hear me say all the time, we need more workers. It may sound counter-intuitive but adding more high pay good jobs is actually part of the answer because good jobs attract skilled workers, who bring their families, growing our communities.”

OnLogic was founded by Roland and Lisa Groeneveld. “We currently have 155 people in Vermont, 225 worldwide, and we are planning to grow this facility to 400 or even more as we go,” said Roland Groeneveld. “This new building has a full solar array on the roof. It will have geothermal, very energy efficient so we are really going as far as we can when it comes to energy efficiency.”

One of Vermont’s biggest challenges right now is its labor force and the aging demographic only makes it more difficult. According to Michael Harrington, the Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor, roughly 8,000 people across Vermont are unemployed.

“On very rough numbers, there are about three jobs for every one individual looking for work in Vermont,” said Harrington. “We are not going to be able to solve this problem in any short order simply by making sure that every Vermonter goes back to work so that continues to be a priority of ours.”

Roland and Lisa Groeneveld encourage people to apply. “The most important thing at OnLogic is that people are passionate about what they do and want to work in a place where their colleagues mean a lot to them.” They hope to have the project complete in 18 months.