Work is available, but employers are having a tough time finding potential employees who can pass a drug test.

“Drug and alcohol is a major problem nationwide,” said Robert Carl Jr., executive director of the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce.By doing drugs or having an alcohol problem, Carl said, “you eliminate yourself.”Carl added, “If I can find a person who is motivated to work and passes a drug and alcohol test, I will find a way to teach them the skill sets they need.”Susy Seifert, the office manager at Structural Metal Fabricators Inc. in Palmerton, said they have seen a 60 percent to 75 percent fail rate in drug tests of potential employees.Lately, the fail rate has dropped, but Seifert thinks people know now that they can’t get hired there if they can’t pass the drug test. For that reason, people who couldn’t pass it aren’t applying.“If someone gets hurt on the job, it opens up liability on the employer,” Seifert said.One of the first questions insurance companies ask the employer in workers’ compensation is if the company has a drug policy.Marshall Walters, corporate executive officer and president of Architectural Polymers in Palmerton, said he’s disturbed by the reaction of people who fail a drug test.“There’s no shame if they don’t pass a drug test,” he said. “There’s this assumption that if it’s legal in Colorado, then it’s legal here. We’ve lost the war on drugs.”Walters said their behavior is as though “sooner or later companies will have to accept us.”“I’m not doing this. I’m not hiring someone who does that stuff,” he said.“I’m the one that is on the hook if they hurt someone. It’s a huge liability. One bad accident and the rates would go through the roof.”Carl said people don’t seem to think they need to work anymore.“What have we done that we have taught people that this is OK,” he said.According to statistics released in June 2015 by Quest Diagnostics, one of the leading companies of diagnostic testing with centers throughout the area, a positive result in the general workforce of about 6.6 million urine drug tests in the U.S. rose 9.3 percent in 2014 compared with the rate in 2013. An increase was also found in the approximately 1.1 million people tested through drug tests using oral fluid and/or hair samples.“In the past, we have noted increases in prescription drug positivity rates, but now it seems illicit drug use may be on the rise, according to our data,” said Dr. Barry Sample, director of Science and Technology for Quest Diagnostics Employer Solutions.“These findings are especially concerning, because they suggest that the recent focus on illicit marijuana use may be too narrow, and that other dangerous drugs are potentially making a comeback.”“The increases in illicit drug positivity in employment drug testing should get employers and policymakers to take notice of the serious risks these drugs create for productivity, health and safety,” said Robert DuPont,former director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.“Many of these substances are clearly associated with impaired physical and cognitive functions.“This analysis by Quest Diagnostics suggests that illicit drug use among workers is increasing broadly for the first time in years in the United States.“Public and private employers might want to consider revisiting existing substance abuse policies to ensure that they are taking the necessary precautions to protect their workplace, employees and businesses.”