My father, not unlike many Hoosiers, toiled for 33 years on the assembly line of a General Motors auto plant. No one I know worked harder — both on the job and in the small town community efforts that he supported.
While he retired many years ago (and is still going strong at age 85), the skills he succesfully used would require some serious updating if he was still in the workforce today. That’s the challenge facing many of the state’s current workers.
The numbers can’t be repeated enough: nearly one million Hoosiers require some form of skills remediation or further education to remain competitive in today’s job market. Approximately 25,000 people are currently served through existing programs. The gap in numbers, and the dollars needed to help find a solution, are the focus in the Indiana Chamber’s Letter to Our Leaders on workforce development.
The proposal: lease the state lottery, utilize the up to $2 billion up-front payment and the annual proceeds to make this major investment in Indiana’s workers. They deserve it.
Our Chairman of the Board, Andre Lacy, offers convincing commentary for Inside INdiana Business outlining how Right-to-Work laws would truly benefit Indiana.
We recommend you take a look at the column in its entirety, but here are some highlights:
In a 2002 study entitled “The Effect of Right-to-Work Laws on Economic Development,” economist William T. Wilson of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy compared Michigan’s economic performance to right-to-work states. Wilson found that during the 30 years between 1970 and 2000, RTW states created jobs nearly twice as fast as did Michigan. While poverty rates dropped dramatically during these 30 years, Michigan was one of seven states (all lacking right-to-work laws) that witnessed an increase in the percentage of residents living in poverty. Finally, the study showed that right-to-work states created 1.43 million manufacturing jobs, while non-right-to-work states lost 2.18 million manufacturing jobs during the same three decades …
There are practical reasons for Indiana to adopt a right-to-work law. First, Hoosiers agree with it. An overwhelming majority – 71 percent – favored or strongly favored right to work in a 2007 statewide survey conducted for the Chamber’s Indiana Business for Responsive Government. There is also the broader moral question of whether a Hoosier breadwinner should be forced to join and/or pay dues to a labor organization to get or keep a job.
Automotive production in the United States is moving south. Yes, Indiana has been successful recently in attracting Honda and incorporating a Toyota expansion into the existing Subaru facility in Lafayette, but those have been exceptions rather than the rule.
Since Nissan chose Smyrna, Tennessee for a plant location in 1983, the Volunteer state and neighbors in Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina have become attractive locations for BMW, Kia, Honda and others. Good transportation and a strong workforce are two of the reasons. The biggest, according to some, is that these are right-to-work (RTW) states that allow the automakers (and other major employers) to avoid union concerns.
The 22 states with RTW laws have seen dramatic increases in economic development and personal incomes compared to those lacking the RTW measures. It’s not the lone reason, of course, but one that deserves full consideration.
One of the keys to progress for any state is standing out from the others. RTW would do that for Indiana in the Midwest and on a national level.
A new study, titled How the Disciple Became the Guru, was recently released by the Kauffman Foundation. I’ll let the experts from Duke and Harvard, who authored the report, explain:
In the ’90s, India’s Information Technology (IT) industry learned to compensate for the country’s weak infrastructure and developed competencies that helped it become a top global player. Now several industries, including IT, have learned to overcome another major deficiency: India’s education system. They have adapted and perfected western practices in workforce training and development, and now take workers with poor education and weak technical skills and turn them into highly productive technical specialists and managers able to compete on the world stage.
Still not sure this applies to Indiana? Try this on for size from a project released earlier this year by the Indiana Chamber: Indiana’s Adult Education and Workforce Skills Performance Report. The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems did the research and offered the following:
Even if Indiana were to become the best-performing state on measures of high school completion, college participation and graduation of traditional-age students, it would still fall short of reaching the level of educational attainment needed to be globally competitive. It must also rely on improved success in raising the education levels of adults age 25 and older. Indiana currently ranks 34th in the U.S. in the percentage of non-traditional-age adults participating in postsecondary education.
Unless Indiana can do a better job preparing its workforce, its ability to attract and maintain knowledge-based jobs may well be in jeopardy. In addition, only a highly trained workforce will possess the necessary ingredients to grow a more vibrant economy from within the state – e.g., entrepreneurship, leadership and civic engagement.
The professionals have spoken. What they are saying requires the attention of — quite simply — everyone. The Chamber’s Letters to Our Leaders will offer a starting point for funding Indiana’s workforce development needs in an August 5 release.
After years of working toward an accurate graduation rate (legislation resulted, in part, from this 2006 report), nearly all will agree that more than a quarter of Indiana’s students are leaving high school without a diploma. It’s not our state’s problem alone, but hopefully most will concede that these young people and our state suffer the long-term consequences of this fact
A more coordinated K-12, higher education and workforce development system is called for in the Chamber’s latest letter to the general public and the candidates for governor. Greater administrative efficiency, adjustments in teacher compensation and qualifications, and more are included. Read the letter; view the one-minute video commentary below; share your thoughts in this space.
Tuesdays is Letters to Our Leaders day, and this week is no exception. You will have to come back tomorrow for this week’s release and the details, but when the topic is education you can be sure there will be plenty to say.
In fact, an early draft of this letter was critiqued by several for having everything in it but the proverbial kitchen sink. Not a good sign if all those contributing to the process came up with such a long list of improvements needed in our education input and outcomes.
There are positives to Indiana’s education efforts at all levels and many good people working for improvement. Like challenges in several other areas, it’s the system that is slowing the dramatic progress needed.
In the closest we’ll get to a sneak preview, look for these words and more — dropouts, parental options, cooperation, accountability, and teacher compensation and qualifications.
I’m confident education will be high on the next governor’s agenda. Tuesday’s letter from the Indiana Chamber board of directors will make an excellent starting point.
Talk about a good news, bad news scenario. That’s the situation with the second of the Chamber’s Letters to Our Leaders — the relationship between economic development and issues regarding energy and the environment.
The history: Indiana’s low-cost, reliable energy supplies have been a major benefit in attracting business investment. Whether at work or at home, we simply expect the water to flow when we turn on the tap and the electricity to come on when we flip the switch.
The future: as our state continues to grow (which we all want and need), the pressure on those supplies is increased. Are the resources going to be in short supply tomorrow, next month or next year? Probably not. The bad news terminology is probably an exaggeration; it’s more of a warning that we better have a long-term plan in place to take full advantage of future opportunities.
Mixing new energy resources with clean coal technology, conservation and more are part of the mix. Our message: Let’s start that planning now, so we don’t pay (in the form of shortages and usage limitations) later.
Read the letter; view the one-minute video summary below. Share your opinions.
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My father, not unlike many Hoosiers, toiled for 33 years on the assembly line of a General Motors auto plant. No one I know worked harder — both on the job and in the small town community efforts that he supported.
Our Chairman of the Board, Andre Lacy, offers .jpg)
A new study, titled 
Talk about a good news, bad news scenario. That’s the situation with the second of the Chamber’s Letters to Our Leaders — the relationship between economic development and issues regarding energy and the environment.
