Workforce 2014: Building 21st Century Skills by Area Development

BUILDING 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

WORK

FORCE How to Cultivate STEM Talent PAGE 3

The

“Zero-Sum”

Labor Problem PAGE 14

Closing the

Skills Gap PAGE 7

Keeping Labor/Training Costs Low PAGE 10

Special Supplement to Area Development Magazine

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The

Deciding Factor. A quality workforce makes the difference between failure and success. That’s why Area Development’s 2013 survey of site selection professionals ranked Georgia No. 1 in the U.S. — for the quality of our workforce and for Georgia Quick Start, what CBS Evening News called, “the nation’s oldest and most successful” program of its kind. And that’s why the offer of comprehensive, customized training has been the deciding factor for global companies choosing to invest in Georgia.

‘Quality and cost of labor is a key driver in every location decision. Georgia’s Quick Start work force development program is one of the best in the nation.’ – Area Development, Summer 2013

www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

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Editor’s Note Workforce issues have come to the forefront in business location and expansion decisions. For the last several years, the media has been reporting that some 600,000 manufacturing jobs are going unfilled because qualified workers cannot be found to take up these positions. In fact, Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), just reiterated this concern to the North Carolina Chamber’s Summit on Manufacturing. He is quoted as saying, “Among our most urgent priorities is ensuring that manufacturers have the talent to fill the jobs of today and tomorrow.” With this in mind, Area Development has decided to produce its first publication devoted to workforce issues. The articles in this magazine describe how government, business, and academic leaders are attempting to build a workforce for 21st century careers. It’s noted that more than 70 percent of today’s jobs require more than a high school education, but also more specialized, skills-based training than one might receive from, say, a batchelor’s degree in liberal arts. This is where programs to cultivate STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) talent come into play. Elizabeth Narehood of the Future Focus Foundation and Virginia’s Region 2000 Business & Economic Development Alliance, describes the establishment of specialized “academies” and other organizations that foster STEM talent and hands-on learning, and which work in collaboration with business, academia, and policymakers. Many specialized training programs, as well as cash grants and other incentives, are available to companies to help them satisfy their workforce needs, say Minah Hall and Natalie Matwijiszyn of True Partners Consulting. And many states are streamlining their workforce initiatives in order to provide employers with a “one-stop shop” for all workforce-related concerns. The importance of addressing workforce needs cannot be overstated. Mark Lautman, co-founder of Lautman Economic Architecture LLC, discusses the implications of the current “zero-sum labor” situation, i.e., more skilled workers (baby-boomers) leaving the workforce than qualified entrants coming onto the scene. Manpower Group’s latest survey of 37,000 employers in 42 countries and territories also confirms the scope of this problem: 36 percent of the respondents to its survey say they are having difficulty finding candidates with the right skills to fill open positions. And, for the fifth consecutive year, the hardest jobs to fill — both in the U.S. and globally — are those in the skilled trades. The survey unfortunately also finds that 22 percent of employers who are experiencing talent shortages are not presently pursuing strategies to address such shortages. Don’t let your company be one of those coming up short. We hope our premiere workforce edition will help you to get involved in the discussion and solution to building a skilled workforce for the 21st century.

Editor Geraldine Gambale editor@areadevelopment.com Art & Design Patricia Zedalis Web Designer Carmela Emerson Production Manager Jessica Whitebook Production Assistant Talea Gormican Publisher

Dennis J. Shea

ADVERTISING SALES William Bakewicz (ext. 202) billbake@areadevelopment.com Valerie Krpata (ext. 218) valerie@areadevelopment.com Digital Media Manager Justin Shea (ext. 220) jshea@areadevelopment.com Business Development Matthew Shea (ext. 200) mshea@areadevelopment.com Reader Service Barbara Olsen (ext. 225) olsen@areadevelopment.com Circulation Gertrude Staudt circ@areadevelopment.com Conference Services Annie Gregson (212) 579-4469 annie@areadevelopment.com EXECUTIVE OFFICES Halcyon Business Publications, Inc. President Dennis J. Shea dshea@areadevelopment.com Finance Mary Paulsen finance@areadevelopment.com All Correspondence to: Area Development Magazine 400 Post Avenue, Westbury, NY 11590 phone: (516) 338-0900 toll free: (800) 735-2732 fax: (516) 338-0100 www.areadevelopment.com

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Contents EDITOR’S NOTE

•••

SPONSORS/PROFILES

ALABAMA

FEATURES

•••

5,18

Alabama Robotics Technology Park Ahead of the Curve Alabama Robotics Technology Park rmaroney@aidt.edu http://www.alabamartp.org

•••

Cultivate STEM Talent to Grow Your Bottom Line Industrial, educational, and government leaders are joining forces to build the robust STEM talent pipeline necessary for U.S. companies to compete in the global economy.

COLORADO

Erie Economic Development Council info@erieedc.com www.erieedc.com GEORGIA

Closing the Skills Gap Government, business, and academic leaders are stepping up to the challenge of building a workforce for 21st century careers.

C2, 19

Georgia Quick Start Promotes Business Success Georgia Quick Start rbrown@georgiaquickstart.org www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org LOUISIANA

Low Costs + Skilled Workforce = A Perfect Fit In order to satisfy their workforce needs, companies can avail themselves of specialized training programs as well as cash grants and other incentives.

C4, 20

Louisiana Crafts Faster, Smarter Workforce Solutions Louisiana Economic Development jeff.lynn@la.gov www.OpportunityLouisiana.com MISSISSIPPI

C3, 21

Find Your Workforce Advantage in Mississippi Mississippi Development Authority dramsey@mississippi.org www.mississippi.org

Zero-Sum Labor — The C-Suite’s Next Wicked Problem The impending chronic shortage of qualified workers is causing employers to rethink their business models, locations, and role in their host communities.

NORTH CAROLINA

11, 22

Educators, Employers Cultivating Skilled Workforce NCEast Alliance chaffee@nceast.org www.nceast.org

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SOUTH CAROLINA

17, 23

Breadth. Depth. Success. South Carolina Is Ready

readySC hudson@sctechsystem.edu www.readysc.org

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Cultivate STEM Talent to GROW Your BOTTOM LINE Industrial, educational, and government leaders are joining forces to build the robust STEM talent pipeline necessary for U.S. companies to compete in the global economy. Choice and destiny came in an unusual package for Bedford, Virginia, high school student Cody Beckner. Fearing the worst when called out of gym class last spring, Cody was relieved and excited to learn about an unexpected glimmer of opportunity. Mrs. Smith, Cody’s school counselor, was recruiting him to apply for a new school she described as a potential “perfect fit” for a student with an aptitude for innovation and problem-solving. “I have always had an engineering attitude,” says Cody. “I like to build and put things together. I have gotten pretty good at it, and Mrs. Smith saw that in me.” Beckner, along with 24 other talented students, comprised the inaugural class of the XLR8: Lynchburg Regional Governor’s STEM Academy (www.xlr8academy.com), which was declared in August 2013 and represents the 16th academy in Virginia offering programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics or “STEM.” Housed on the campus of Central Virginia Community College, XLR8 (pronounced “excel-r-ate”) is the culmination of workforce efforts to build a robust STEM talent pipeline serving a region with vital industries in energy, manufacturing, engineering, and health sciences.

PARTNERING WITH BUSINESS

•••

One of the business partners in XLR8 STEM Academy is AMTI, an advanced electronics

manufacturing and business support services company. “When we started AMTI, we knew the area had the knowledge workers,” says President and CEO Larry Hatch. “That did work for a short period of time, but then one day we woke up and realized the world is changing, and our extent of knowledge was not keeping pace with newer technologies. How could we get new workers when no one is really investing in manufacturing any more? We had to create them.” Hatch says AMTI’s investments in STEM efforts have been “beyond rewarding.” The company began working with high school students as interns. Then Liberty University “lit up the area” with its engineering school. Hatch explains the next step was to reach back into the supply chain to younger students through the region’s Future Focus Foundation (www. futurefocusfoundation.us) and its network of STEM programs. “I knew, as with any business investment, the ROI is over a period of time,” continues Hatch. “If I invest $4,000 to $5,000 in a great crop of engineers, I am saving $20,000 in recruiting, relocation, and other collateral costs over the long-term.” Hatch is not alone in his concern for recruiting skilled workers. National statistics illustrate a vastly inadequate STEM talent supply with future projections portraying an even more dismal employment

By Elizabeth Narehood, Managing Director, Future Focus Foundation, and Virginia’s Region 2000 Business & Economic Development Alliance; and Catherine Mosley

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A team of XLR8-STEM Academy students tests an engineering design project.

landscape. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, jobs in STEM are expected to grow 17 percent by 2018 — nearly double the growth of other fields — yet only 16 percent of college graduates have degrees in STEM fields. This, compounded by society’s precarious perch on the cusp of baby-boomer retirements, has looming negative implications for industry retention and growth. A call-to-action fueled by this “perfect storm” is delivering groundbreaking collaborations, such as XLR8, between the public and private sectors.

INDUSTRY-BASED TRAINING

•••

The core of the XLR8 academy is the innovative, hands-on curriculum provided by Project Lead the Way (PLTW), a national leader in industry-based training programs in partnership with some of the top universities in the nation. Primary and secondary school educators also play a big part in creating program content that is the “latest and most relevant,” according to PLTW Chief Communications Officer Dorothy Powers. Powers describes ongoing PLTW programs with Toyota and Chevron. Toyota recruits PLTW students seamlessly into a top technician career pathway in the nation. “Chevron has partnered with us for a long time, and through a more recent donation, we are helping build the workforce pipeline for its supply base,” adds Powers. In February, PLTW announced a $6 million national partnership with Lockheed Martin to expand STEM programs in select U.S. urban school districts. “Success in building the next generation of STEM talent depends on collaboration among industry, educators, policymakers, and families,” says Jeff Wilcox, Lockheed Martin vice president of Engineering. “Our partnership with Project Lead The Way is designed to

educate and inspire tomorrow’s scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. Expanding student access to STEM education is an issue of national prosperity and security.”

MOTIVATING THE NEXT GENERATION

•••

Globally, the nonprofit organization FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, http://www.usfirst.org/) designs accessible, innovative programs that motivate young people to pursue education and career opportunities in STEM. “This country is at risk of losing its innovative edge,” warns FIRST Founder Dean Kamen. “There is an urgent need to train the next generation of innovators so we can bolster our economic standing. We need businesses to invest in bright young minds now so they can enter the STEM workforce ready to solve the complex challenges of the future. I am convinced that the students we engage in hands-on innovation challenges in FIRST will help us solve these problems.” FIRST is a frontrunner in utilizing industry collaboration to tackle wilting employment forecasts. In manufacturing, the evolution to advanced manufacturing has created growing demands for technically skilled workers. “In 2010 the Automation Federation and the International Society of Automation (ISA) became Strategic Alliance Partners with FIRST,” says Mike Marlowe, managing director, Automation Federation - The Voice of Automation. “We view this alliance as an important step to assist in the Automation Federation’s effort to build the next generation of automation professionals.”

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Getting the Message Out

•••

Government and media entities are also seeking opportunities to partner with industry. NASA (www.nasa.gov) has worked closely with Lockheed Martin and other institutions, as well as the White House, on various STEM initiatives. Discovery Education, part of the global media company Discovery Communications, is strengthening a STEM relevant message with industry support. In March 2013, NASA unveiled an Exploration Design Challenge that gives students K-12th grade the opportunity to play a unique role in the future of human spaceflight. The challenge asks students in the U.S. and abroad to think and act like scientists to overcome one of the major hurdles for deep space long-duration exploration. This education-focused effort was developed through a Space Act Agreement between NASA and Lockheed Martin, in collaboration with the National Institute of Aerospace. “Studies continue to show that the United States is falling behind other countries in STEM,” says Lori McFarling, chief marketing officer of Discovery Education. The organization’s partnerships span STEM academies for teachers and camps for students, as well as online resources and competitive events (www.discoveryeducation.com). “By working with like-minded partners, such as the Siemens Foundation and 3M, we provide students with engaging, hands-on ways to explore the science that powers their world.”

An Investment in the Future

•••

Grassroots initiatives such as the XLR8 STEM Academy illustrate tailoring a national movement to be reflective of critical workforce needs at the local level. Although most sci-tech industries now have a global customer base, the recruitment of talent is most cost effectively developed from a diverse, local candidate pool vested in the community. Rong Ni, who goes by “Ni,” is a STEM Academy student from Campbell County, Virginia. She and her family immigrated to the U.S. from China in 2010. Ni shares how much she enjoys a diverse student cohort

and collaborative curriculum imitating the environment that will be encountered as a professional engineer. “Some of us like math, and some of us like writing. We all like working as a team,” says Ni who articulates the focus on soft skill development, a core component of integrated STEM learning. “We see this (STEM) as a long-term investment in our future, and we would encourage others to see it the same way,” says Sandy Baker, president of Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group, Inc., headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia. “For example, over the past 20 years, our engineers have participated in a high school mentoring program and reached more than 2,000 students — many of whom have gone on to college and then joined Babcock & Wilcox as full-time employees. This is the kind of success we like to see. Here in Central Virginia, we are involved in a number of programs in middle and high schools…We are also involved in the Region 2000 Machine Industry Program and participate in engineering and technical mentorship and sponsorship programs with Central Virginia Community College (CVCC).” “What distinguishes STEM initiatives at CVCC is that we are not ivory towers,” says CVCC President Dr. John Capps. “We are striving to meet the real needs of the communities we serve, and STEM is the lifeblood of our region.” Capps says when he first heard of the proposed XLR8 STEM Academy, he thought it was a great concept, but it might not be realistic. The timeframe and economic conditions provided huge hurdles to overcome. “Our region embraced the vision, saw the need, and was willing to support both financially and programmatically,” shares Capps. AREVA North America CEO Mike Rencheck agrees. “We support the engineering and technical education pipeline from K-12 and beyond through both financial investment and employee volunteerism. As a forwardlooking energy company, AREVA recognizes that we play an important role in sustaining the economic vitality of our local communities, and that when they thrive, we also thrive…While our outreach supports our business objectives, it is also an important expression of our commitment as a good corporate citizen in the communities in which we live and work.”

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CLOSING THE SKILLS GAP Government, business, and academic leaders are stepping up to the challenge of building a workforce for 21st century careers.

The rates of change for technology, cultural shifts, economic cycles, and educational restructuring are nowhere near the same. It is that asynchrony, as much as any single cause, that has resulted in the “skills gap” that so occupies the conversations of CEOs and corporate hiring managers, particularly at manufacturing firms, says a new Georgetown University study (Failure to Launch: Structural Shift and the New Lost Generation, http://cew. georgetown.edu/failuretolaunch). It wasn’t long ago that American students were led to understand that manufacturing would, for the most part, occur overseas in countries paying a fraction of the U.S. wage; and if they hoped to have a sustainable career, it would be in finance, healthcare, design, communications — service rather than production. Couple that understanding with Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on earnings, unemployment, and educational attainment (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001. htm) showing a 63 percent premium in median weekly earnings for those with a bachelor’s degree over a high school diploma, and a 4.5 percent unemployment rate for the BA holder vs. 8.3 percent for the high school grad — and it isn’t hard to see why the sons and daughters of well-off baby-boomers choose college over vocational training. Now, with a resurgent manufacturing

sector, the U.S. finds itself in the anomalous position of having four million job openings at the end of 2013 (BLS data), but only one out of three adults in their early 20s and just over half of adults in their late 20s are employed in full-time jobs according to the Failure to Launch study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. There’s been a dramatic shift in workplace technology over just four decades. In 1970, only one in four jobs required more than a high school education. Today, close to 70 percent require more training, but that training, in many cases, is more specialized and skills-based than might be found in a traditional liberal arts education. The Georgetown report notes, “As a result of increasing human capital requirements for both young and old, the education and labor market institutions that were the foundations of the 20th century industrial system are out of sync with the 21st century economy. The first step to a modernized system of work and learning is greater transparency in the alignment between post-secondary programs and career pathways. In addition, young adults will need to mix work and learning at earlier stages in the on-ramp to careers, and older adults need a less abrupt transition from working to retirement.”

By Dave Claborn

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In Shreveport, Louisiana, state and local governments are building a $22 million workforce center at Bossier Parish Community College.

WHERE GOVERNMENT, COMPANIES, AND COLLEGES COMBINE

•••

The good news is we’re beginning to find answers. The answers are coming where government, education, and companies are each putting skin in the game. Louisiana may be doing it as well as any state. Recognizing the direct connection between workforce training and economic development success, the Louisiana legislature last year authorized more than $250 million in workforce-related projects at community and technical colleges across the state. That’s on top of the $250 million already spent between 2007 and 2012. Called “Facilities with a Purpose,” the plan requires a 12 percent local match for project costs. The investment is beginning to pay off. In Shreveport, state and local governments are building a $22 million workforce center at Bossier Parish Community College. The commitment to build the training center helped convince German steelmaker Benteler Steel/ Tube to invest $975 million in a hot-roll steel tubemaking facility that will employ 675 when it is complete. “We are making a long-term commitment, so we need to have certainty about the workforce of the future,” says Matthias Jaeger, president and CEO of Benteler Steel/Tube. “The value of the training facility is almost immeasurable.” In southwest Louisiana, a new $20 million training center at SOWELA Technical Community College will train welders, process technologists, and other skilled workers, many of whom will land some of the 1,250 jobs in a new $16 billion South African natural gas-to-

liquids facility. In both the steel and gas projects, the companies are playing a direct role in developing curriculum. “What’s being done in Louisiana is exciting,” says Mike Kane, Sasol operations manager for the ethanecracker project. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime partnership for Sasol to be able to influence training at a public education institution in this way.”

TACKLING THE SKILLS GAP STATE BY STATE ••

•

Louisiana isn’t the only place crafting workforce solutions. In fact, nearly every state that’s serious about business attraction is in the game. Here are some examples: • Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam is pursuing a $35 million “Tennessee Promise” — a guarantee that every high school graduate in his state can attend a community or technical college free of charge if he or she so chooses. • The Texas Skills Development Fund awards job training grants up to $500,000 to companies that partner with a community or technical college. In 2012, awards totaled over $22 million. • In addition to offering workforce training grants, Ohio is developing a predictive model that overlays federal labor market information with real-time job postings, coupled with company surveys in various industry clusters. The result is data that schools can use to develop curriculum to meet skill requirements in a particular region at a particular time. • Michigan is considering a statewide version of Bekum

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America Corporation’s apprenticeship program in Williamston, Michigan, where students receive 8,000 hours of hands-on training coupled with 60 hours of academic instruction in a partnering community college. The training is free to the apprentice, with a job promise at the end of the session. Bekum calls it “The Other FourYear Degree.” • In Lexington, South Carolina, Michelin has developed a Technical Scholars Program that pays tuition, fees, and books for selected Midlands Technical College students. It’s coupled with a paid co-op position in the Lexington Michelin plant.

Company Schools

•••

Unsatisfied with the quality or quantity of STEMcompetent graduates available for its programming positions, IBM is getting heavily into the education business. Working with colleges in New York and Chicago, the tech giant is creating its own schools, called PTECH academies. Eight are open and the company has plans for at least 29 more. IBM helps develop curriculum, heavy in STEM courses, for the six-year program. Graduates emerge with an associate’s degree, no debt, and the promise of a $40,000/year job with IBM. The IBM P-TECH schools are similar to the German-style apprenticeship programs being organized in Michigan, Wisconsin, and several southern states by the German-American Chamber of Commerce. Under the German model, the company partners with an area community college to develop curriculum that coordinates with in-company on-the-job training. Students apply to the company for available apprentice positions. If accepted, they are paid a stipend and their education is paid for. Graduates earn an associate’s degree and a nationally recognized journeyman’s certificate and, in return, promise to work for the company for at least two years. “The first relationship is with the company,” says the German American Chamber’s Mark Tomkins. Honda of America Manufacturing, Inc., facing the demographic challenge

of eventually replacing its Ohio-based workforce, has developed its own in-house technical training program, but Honda is also putting $75,000 toward development of a mobile technology lab that can be parked outside high schools within its labor-draw area. Students visit the lab for a hands-on experience in modern manufacturing technology, and the hope is that they begin to understand that today’s manufacturing environment is quite different from the one their parents or grandparents experienced. The concept of taking the technology to the students “came together through a series of discussions with other businesses and our economic development partners in multiple counties,” says Caroline Ramsey, Honda’s assistant manager for Government and Community Relations. The mobile lab concept is borrowed from similar efforts under way in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Fixing Basic Education

•••

Even before skills training, basic education needs attention says Ohio State Associate Professor Josh Hawley, recently tapped to head the Ohio Education Research Center, a collaboration of six universities and five research centers whose mission is to develop an Ohio preschool-through-workforce agenda. Compared with other developed nations, Hawley says, U.S. high school graduates have relatively low average skills. And that’s graduates — but what about those who don’t get that far? “From a policy perspective, you cannot ignore the fact that 25 to 30 percent of kids drop out anymore. Because there are no jobs for those people,” says Hawley. “No employer is going to routinely hire high school dropouts without training.” Ohio’s governor, John Kasich, is taking note. He spent 20 minutes of his State of the State speech this year discussing education and workforce issues, proposing, among other things, vocational training for seventhgraders and online career road maps that could be downloaded on cell phones. “Our kids need direction,” said the Governor. “They need to understand where they are going.”

Even before skills training, basic education needs attention.

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LOW COSTS + SKILLED WORKFORCE = A Perfect Fit In order to satisfy their workforce needs, companies can avail themselves of specialized training programs as well as cash grants and other incentives.

The site selection process has always been a complex balancing act of finding the “perfect” combination between the ideal physical location (proximity to interstates, airports, customers, etc.) and the most qualified and available workforce, with the cost of doing business in each location (utility costs, labor costs, and taxes) tempering the two considerations. Depending on the project, physical location may be very important to a company or specific geographic requirement. However, recently the priority has shifted from a point on the map to a location with the best workforce and lowest cost of doing business. The recent boost of manufacturing activity in the United States, coupled with the influx of foreign direct investment, has made the focus on workforce inevitable. Companies have placed increased importance on workforce and corresponding incentives, reprioritizing them as a top-five factor in their location decision. State and local jurisdictions cannot always overcome physical impediments, though they can compete for development projects by implementing various training and financial incentives. The economic development agencies are quick to respond to companies’ needs, offering incentives to make their locations more attractive through training programs or a lower cost of doing business.

TRAINING PROGRAMS

•••

Over the past few decades, the U.S. skilled labor market weakened due to a decline of manufacturing in the United States. The offshoring of skilled manufacturing projects substantially impacted the local economy — more so than other regional economic activities. With manufacturing jobs moving to other global markets, much of the collective skilled labor knowledge left as well. Fewer people trained for skilled manufacturing jobs, and the emphasis on technical training shifted. Now, as rising fuel prices and geopolitical uncertainty cause companies to onshore their manufacturing facilities, a location with an available and skilled workforce has become an increasingly important factor in the site selection decision. With a need comes a solution, i.e., jurisdictions offer innovative solutions when creating incentive packages that relate to workforce training. If a location does not have enough skilled labor, jurisdictions are able to provide funding through state-sponsored training programs to meet the specific needs of a specific project. Most state training programs will reimburse for some of the cost of training new employees, and some states will even reimburse the cost to retrain existing employees; however, the most successful and well-known training programs offered are those that allow for specialization.

By Minah C. Hall, Managing Director; and Natalie Matwijiszyn, Senior Tax Consultant; True Partners Consulting LLC

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The more specialized a training program, the more valuable the incentive will be to the company. Notable specialized training programs include Georgia Quick Start. The program’s success is due to the partnership between the company and the state of Georgia. Typically, the onus of developing the training is on the company; but Quick Start partners with the company to develop a program that is unique to the project. Quick Start not only helps develop the training, but also provides a facility for training prior to the opening of a new project and creates prototypes used in training — all without losing valuable time getting the project up and running. For example, a Swedish company recently collaborated with Quick Start to help the company train its employees to manufacture a new, highly sophisticated surgical product. By providing support from beginning to end, Quick Start allows a company to focus on other important elements of its location process. When there is an obstacle related to the existing workforce, creativity can work to win a project. Louisiana’s FastStart® program adapts to each project and develops a training program that uses a customized approach to capture a company’s culture and deliver the training required; however, not all aspects of FastStart® focus solely on training. For example, a creative solution included the establishment of a recruiting website that included an overview of the company in need of labor. The website attracted nearly 2,000 applicants; of those, almost 700 were highly qualified and possessed the required skills that factored into the company’s location decision.

STREAMLINED WORKFORCE INITIATIVES • •

•

In addition to offering customized training and

other training-related incentives, many states are now recognizing the importance of having a streamlined workforce initiative to more effectively and efficiently communicate all of their workforce programs and resources. Within the last few months, Kentucky and Florida have both streamlined their workforce initiatives. In late January, Kentucky launched an initiative to transform its state workforce delivery system by providing employers with a one-stop-shop for all workforcerelated resources through WorkSmart Kentucky. As part of this initiative, the state is offering flexible funding, in the form of grants, to help offset the costs of customized and in-house training needs. In February, Florida launched a new unified workforce brand, CareerSource Florida, for each of the state’s 24 regional workforce organizations and nearly 100 career centers. Florida recognizes the importance of having a single statewide brand, making it easier for companies to find the resources they need in order to fill positions quickly.

WEIGHING THE VALUE OF TRAINING GRANTS

•••

Not all workforce solutions are worth their value. Many jurisdictions offer cash grants to offset training costs. Receiving cash incentives may sound like a great idea; however, many programs’ compliance stipulations related to obtaining the funding are overly burdensome. Companies must determine the true value of such training incentives and make the decision as to whether or not to take advantage of them. The primary question is whether the size of the grant is worth the cost to perform the required reporting. If a training grant demands complex reporting requirements

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and the company does not have a dedicated training coordinator or sophisticated tracking system, then the monetary value of the training grant may not exceed the cost of performing the reporting. For example, a grant of $150,000 that requires 30 separate reporting forms to be filed within the next 30 months is overly burdensome and may not be worth the benefit of receiving the training grant. Moreover, if the training grant agreement provides the recipient with a “chart” mapping out the various required reporting forms and due dates, then the company may want to strongly consider not taking advantage of the program. In contrast, a training grant for $150,000 that requires a company to submit a one-page report annually may be worthwhile. Moreover, decision to pursue a trainProject1 6/4/14a company’s 4:28 PM Page 1 ing grant should be based on the company’s internal training profile. Companies ought to consider whether they have a robust internal system of reporting or if the reporting is being added onto someone’s already full workload. In evaluating whether to accept a training grant, it is best to evaluate the program in its entirety, and sometimes working backwards helps. By starting with the compliance, a company may ascertain the real value of a training incentive. First, determine the

number of hours necessary to complete the required reporting; then perform a cost per hour to satisfy the requirement; and then compare the cost of reporting to the value of the training incentive. Additionally, a company should understand any clawback provisions and other potential penalties of missing a report or failing to maintain a minimum employee headcount, which may trigger payback of grants already awarded with interest and penalties, making a great benefit a headache in the making.

Increased Focus

•••

The focus placed on workforce and incentives is only going to increase in the future. For jurisdictions desiring to be part of a site selection conversation, an emphasis needs to be placed on keeping the costs of doing business low and strengthening the existing workforce. Gone are the days of using a “one size fits all” approach in developing a good workforce and attracting new business. The most effective tools seem to be ones that focus on a tailored approach for each project. Although this approach will not be successful in every instance or even possible at times, if or when there is a “perfect” fit, everyone will be better off.

FacilityLocations.com

Find the Right Location for Your Next Business Site, Facility or Headquarters FacilityLocations is a GIS map-driven, online economic development directory used to research potential locations during the business re-location or expansion process.

Discover Search and identify potential site and facility locations within big, easy-to-navigate, GIS-driven maps

Research Drill-down into location profile pages: • Google Streetview and Bing Bird’s Eye Imagery • Heat Maps and Data Layers • Downloadable Point-and-Click Radius Demographics Reports • Available Property Listings and Key RE Assets

Connect A directory with 5000+ listings including: • Local and Regional Economic Development Contacts • Port Authority Contacts • Utility Contacts • Foreign Trade Zone Contacts • Foreign Inward Investment Contacts

If you are an economic development agency and want to have an enhanced listing with a location profile on FacilityLocations.com, please contact Dennis Shea at 800.735.2732 x 208 or dshea@areadevelopment.com

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ZERO-SUM LABOR — The C-SUITE’S Next Wicked Problem The impending chronic shortage of qualified workers is causing employers to rethink their business models, locations, and role in their host communities.

After a decade of financial market turmoil, recession, escalating tax and regulatory burdens, and the constant barrage of global market disruptions and creative destruction, C-suite execs are recovering from their own version of PTSD. So the last thing “post-recession stress disorder” suffering management teams need is another big game-changing threat to worry about. But there is such a threat, and it’s a wicked one. Baby-boomers are the first generation in human history not to have enough kids to replace themselves, and they’ve compounded the problem by de-coupling the public education system from the needs of employers. As a result, many of the kids they did have are unprepared to learn how to do the jobs of the future. Throw in rising technological demands of the workplace, shorter industry lifecycles, and a web of state and federal disincentives to work and things get worse. What we’re facing is a chronic shortage of qualified workers, and that is changing the physics of the U.S. business environment in ways that will cause most employers to rethink their business models, their location, and their role in the civic affairs of their host communities. Here’s what it means: Literally everyone you are going to hire in the next 25 years has already

been born. We know how many there are and how many took algebra II. All 75 million boomers will be over 55 seven years from now. As they bail out of the workforce, there just aren’t going to be enough qualified entrants from the baby-bust generation to replace them. This creates a zero-sum game.

WHAT DOES IT CHANGE?

•••

A zero-sum market changes everything. It shifts the power in the hiring relationship from employer to employee. It reorders the criteria for corporate site selection and reverses the “Chi” in the economic development process. Employers, governors, and tax incentives don’t decide where the jobs get created anymore. Employers have to locate their jobs to places where the workers want to go. A zero-sum game means that if you need to add qualified employees to survive or grow, you will have to steal them from your competition. In this war for talent there will be only winners and losers — those that can grow, attract, and retain new qualified workers at will, and those that can’t. Lastly, it redefines the relationship between the C-suite and the communities that host their operations.

By Mark Lautman, CEcD, Co-founder, Lautman Economic Architecture LLC

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So What Do You Do?

•••

Employers now have to worry about being stuck in a loser community. Choices are limited. You can help fix the local education and workforce pipeline, help make the community a talent magnet, move to a place that already is, automate, or sellout and move to Boca. If you elect to move, you need bulletproof site selection criteria that can assess the capacity and level of commitment of candidate communities to grow, attract, and retain a healthy surplus of the kind of workers you are going to need. If your strategy is to automate, you are of limited value to communities looking to rebalance their ratio of wage earners to dependents. Any employer that wants to head off being starved of labor needs to act now. If you wait five-to-seven years for the problem to become the crisis de jour, it will be too late. Most solutions you come up with now will take at least seven years to move the needle, so the prudent thing to do is act strategically now.

Step by Step

•••

The first step is to get a grip on the problem. This means developing an understanding of the nature and dimension of the threat to your company, your industry, and your host communities. For many this is still counterintuitive. How could the biggest barrier to corporate growth and economic development be a shortage of labor when 10 million Americans are still out of work? High unemployment numbers used to mean that there was a surplus of qualified workers in the market and headroom for the local economy to grow — not anymore. Next employers and the community’s job-creation strategists must be willing to iterate how many of which occupations will be needed, develop a common standard for work readiness, and start gathering data and intelligence on the dynamics of the local workforce. How many qualified workers will you loose in the next 10 years? How many will be lost to retirement, skill obsolescence, disincentives to work, health or family issues, or recruited away? What forces and factors are driving each major source of attrition? What

can employers and community institutions do to mitigate losses in each area? How many qualified workers could be retained by each solution? This is admittedly a heavy lift for an already strapped business community, but without much better predictive and descriptive data about the jobs that are likely to be in demand and intelligence on workers’ motivations for leaving, there is no way to structure a mission for educators, workforce developers, and community developers who will have to generate the talent and prioritize the amenities that will make the community a talent magnet. Then you will need to map the potential sources of additional qualified workers. You are going to have to estimate how many you could get by promoting from within; from better aligned K-12 school systems, better aligned university programs, and a better aligned mid-career change pipeline; from conversion of the hard-to-employ and chronically poor into mainstream workers; by recruiting from outside the community; and by repatriating former residents.

One Way to Get Things Done

•••

As the data and analytics accumulate, the solutions will be obvious. In most places it is going to take tactful and inspired leadership from the C-suite to get this done. This is new territory for everyone. There are a few places around the country where employers and their community partners have focused on aspects of the problem, but no one has tackled the wicked problem of how to get the players together, get clarity on the problem, consensus on the solutions, and the commitments to implement. Any community that can elevate and integrate its economic development, workforce development, and community development efforts will be way ahead of the game. Some examples of things you can do now include a middle school physics solution. A not-for-profit group called See The Change USA in Colorado Springs, Colo., has developed, tested, and is rolling out a middle school physics program that flipped the student success metrics in the two poorest-

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performing middle schools in the region. In one year, the student body (90 percent free and reduced lunch) went from 80 percent testing one-to-two years behind grade level in all subjects, to 80 percent oneto-two years ahead — a spectacular four-year jump for many. A Ukrainian physicist, Anatoliy Glushenko, developed the program after he realized that the only difference between places that overproduce and underproduce technical talent is when they start teaching physics. Where conceptual physics is taught as a core subject in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades and math-based 9th through 12th grade — instead of waiting till senior year to offer it as a “nerd only” elective — the schools put STEM students into college and directly into the local workforce ready to do technical work. There is a one-time $50,000 cost per middle school for curriculum and teacher training support. This is a program that employers could introduce and pay for that would immediately improve the performance of the local schools, eliminate remediation costs for the area’s community colleges, and slash the STEM washout rates at universities. Maybe more importantly,

young workers not going to college would flood the local labor market prepared to do technical work fiveto-seven years from now.

OTHER INITIATIVES

•••

Spectacular examples of leadership include what Oklahoma City did after United Airlines told them they just couldn’t see their employees living there. The community’s major employers and community leaders calculated what it would take to attract young talent to the city and invested the billions it took to make the area attractive. Other interesting initiatives include: • A new strategic planning process that is proving successful at quickly getting a full spectrum of stakeholders to clarity and consensus on how to integrate job creation and workforce programming • An effort to develop a new labor market platform that connects candidate workers, employers, and education and training institutions around a digital interface with a common set of work-readiness standards, job descriptions, and curriculum • A program that can systematically convert the hardto-employ chronically poor living in your community into mainstream workers, which has been developed and tested by Circles USA. There is also some very interesting work being done on solving the wage cliff issue and other disincentives to work. Millions of workers are on the sidelines because the safety net is set too high and entry-level wages too low. This will be a supremely difficult lift in most places, but take heart; there is compelling research now that people who work on the most difficult problems are the happiest among us.

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Alabama Robotics Technology Park Ahead of the Curve

Rick Maroney Project Manager •••

labama Robotics Technology Park A 6505 U.S. Hwy. 31 Tanner, AL 35671 256-642-2600 rmaroney@aidt.edu http://www.alabamartp.org

The AIDT Alabama Robotics Technology Park (RTP) in North Alabama is one of the most innovative training centers in the country. Workers from manufacturers all over Alabama train on the latest robots and automation tools. The park currently consists of two buildings, with a third planned for groundbreaking this summer. The first training center opened in November 2010. The Robotic Maintenance Training Center is dedicated to teaching technicians to work with and operate on the leading industrial robotics and automation software in the world. The highlight of the facility is the manufacturing floor, which consists of more than 30 industrial robots, an automated welding lab, and a mock-up automated manufacturing line used to explain the purpose of robots in manufacturing to students. Phase two of the Alabama RTP is the 43,000-square-foot Advanced Technology and Research Development center. Think of this facility as a cutting-edge R&D facility focusing entirely on high-end robotics and automation projects. Some of the early companies involved in Phase II are creating and testing robotics for military and civilian applications as well as first responder needs. In some instances, the 9/10mile test track can be used for testing drone takeoffs and landings as well as remote-control mine searchers.

Phase III consists of the Integration, Entrepreneurial and Paint Center, which is under design now; a groundbreaking is tentatively scheduled for summer 2014. This facility will allow companies to train in manual paint spraying techniques and robotic dispense training. Last year, the Alabama RTP debuted a mobile training lab that is used for outreach and to help teach k-12 students about careers in robotics and automation. The RTP mobile lab is a 53-foot semi-trailer outfitted with the latest and greatest in robotics and automation. Since June 2013, nearly 55,000 kids have explored the Mobile Robotics Training Lab. The RTP is just one of the many incentives Alabama has to offer when it comes to landing economic development projects. “With new companies moving to and existing companies expanding in Alabama, AIDT is continuously upgrading its services as a training organization,” says AIDT’s Executive Director Ed Castile. “By staying on top of new technologies and advanced production processes, AIDT is able to keep producing a highly skilled, well-trained workforce and keep our clients safe, productive, and profitable. We will continue to find ways to be innovative in our approach to training, developing, and recruiting the workforce these industries require.”

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Georgia Quick Start Promotes Business Success

Rodger Brown Executive Director •••

Georgia Quick Start 75 Fifth Street NW, Suite 400 Atlanta, GA 30308 404-253-2800 Fax: 404-253-2821 rbrown@georgiaquickstart.org www.GeorgiaQuickStart.org

For the fourth year in a row, leading site location consultants have chosen Georgia as the No. 1 state for workforce development programs. In its Summer 2013 issue, Area Development magazine published the results of its fourth annual Consultants Survey, which credits Quick Start as the key factor in that top ranking. According the article, “Quality and cost of labor is a key driver in every location decision. Georgia’s Quick Start work force development program is one of the best in the nation and provides customized training at no cost to qualified companies in an array of industries. Nearly one million workers at 6,200 companies of all sizes have benefited from Quick Start.” Georgia Quick Start, the nation’s oldest and most successful workforce training organization, provides comprehensive, customized training to qualified existing, expanding, and new businesses — free of charge — to create and save jobs, and promote business success. Some of the state’s newest manufacturers reaffirm the effectiveness of Quick Start, its value, and the role it played in Georgia’s winning their jobcreating investments. “I can’t say enough about Georgia Quick Start,”

said Todd Henry, plant manager for Caterpillar’s new 1,400-job manufacturing plant near Athens. “They’ve just been phenomenal.” And then there’s Baxter International’s 1,400-job biomanufacturing plant near Covington. To help support training for Baxter as well as future biotech companies locating in Georgia, Quick Start will operate the new Georgia BioScience Training Center. Valery Gallagher, Baxter International’s director of government affairs, summed up the value Quick Start brings to advanced manufacturers and the taxpaying citizens of Georgia. Georgia competes globally for new jobs, she said. “And the uniqueness that Georgia brings is the Quick Start program. The Quick Start program for us was one of the key determinants.” She concluded, “As we looked at what different site locations offer, Quick Start was an enormous part of our decision-making process.” In addition to ranking Georgia as the No. 1 state for workforce development programs, the consultants responding to Area Development’s 2013 survey ranked Georgia No. 1 for rail and highway accessibility and No. 2 overall based on its ranking in all 18 categories related to its overall business environment, labor climate, and infrastructure and global access.

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Louisiana crafts faster, smarter workforce solutions.

Jeff Lynn Executive Director of Workforce Development Programs ••• Louisiana Economic Development 445 North Blvd., Suite 210 Baton Rouge, LA 70802 225-342-0107 jeff.lynn@la.gov www.OpportunityLouisiana.com

Six years ago, Louisiana set about building a better economy through a more competitive business climate. Noncompetitive business taxes were eliminated, governmental ethics laws were beefed up, education reforms were enacted, and employers and prospects gained new economic development tools.

forge rapid solutions for recruiting talent, for matching recruits to specific jobs, and for training new and existing employees to meet project goals. An extended team of industry experts designs, develops, and delivers the training in partnership with clients, using blueprints designed by FastStart and approved by the companies.

Among those tools, a highly customized workforce program emerged: LED FastStart®. Focused on business needs, FastStart quickly convinced companies they could rely on the Louisiana Economic Development program for success.

Eligibility covers many sectors: headquarters and business operations, advanced and traditional manufacturing, digital media and software development, service industries, research and development, warehouse and distribution — and other sectors aligned with Louisiana’s economic development targets. Companies must commit to creating a net of at least 15 new permanent manufacturing jobs or a net of at least 50 new permanent service-related jobs.

“Life without FastStart becomes very challenging,” said Kevin Mitchell, site manager for Northrop Grumman in Lake Charles, La. “We would not be able to meet a lot of our objectives without those types of skills coming out of FastStart. I could not come up with a complaint if I tried: It was outstanding support.” By 2010, Gov. Bobby Jindal could tout FastStart as a rising star, as it ranked among the nation’s top state workforce training programs. “We created LED FastStart to give companies the confidence they can recruit highly talented employees in Louisiana,” Gov. Jindal said, “but also so that we can comprehensively train those employees in a very short period of time.” How FastStart works In FastStart, Louisiana assembled a permanent team of highly skilled professionals — experts who

At its core, FastStart offers companies a transformational experience through a unique strategic plan and highly effective solutions customized for each client. FastStart continuously rethinks the way training is designed and delivered, reaching employees in different locations through real-time, immersive instruction on iPads and other handheld devices. Every project focuses on company metrics, not state-based goals. FastStart prides itself on staying ahead of company schedules, and companies aren’t required to file laborious paperwork: FastStart gets to work immediately. To learn more, visit OpportunityLouisiana.com.

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Find Your Workforce Advantage in Mississippi

David Ramsey, Global Business Division Director ••• Mississippi Development Authority P.O. Box 849, Jackson, MS 39205 601-359-3155 Fax: 601-359-4339 dramsey@mississippi.org www.mississippi.org

Mississippi is a prime with the skills location choice for a necessary to get the growing list of global job done on day-one companies. The state’s of production. supportive business The state’s four climate and collaborative research universities partnerships create a add to Mississippi’s welcoming competitive workforce environment where advantage by offering companies are finding access to the latest their competitive research and advantage. New and development existing companies advances across Team members at Toyota’s Blue Springs, Miss., plant have built benefit from a broad spectrum more than 300,000 Corollas in just two years of operation. Mississippi’s streamlined of industry sectors, one-stop permitting, competitive energy and including specialized focus in aerospace, operating costs, a robust transportation infrastructure, automotive, advanced materials, energy, and a highly skilled workforce. and healthcare. Mississippi understands that access to a superior workforce is a key factor that helps companies achieve the edge they need in today’s complex economy. The state’s commitment to developing a world-class workforce includes its network of 15 community colleges that provide customized workforce training solutions tailored to each company’s unique needs. Through this collaborative partnership Mississippi is able to deliver a ready-made workforce prepared to meet the production demands of manufacturers. Yokohama Tire Company selected West Point, Miss., in April 2013 for its first U.S.-built commercial truck tire plant. The initial phase of this project will create 500 jobs with a company investment of $300 million, with future expansions projected to create 2,000 jobs and investments exceeding $1.2 billion. Yokohama collaborated with the state of Mississippi and East Mississippi Community College to provide specialized workforce training, including an on-site training center that will equip workers

The abundance of R&D opportunities includes research centers at the state’s universities, like the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems and the Raspet Flight Research Lab at Mississippi State University. As a matter of fact, the National Science Foundation recently ranked Mississippi State University as one of the nation’s top research universities. Other research centers include the Center for Manufacturing Excellence at the University of Mississippi, the Mississippi Polymer Institute at the University of Southern Mississippi, and Jackson State’s Institute for Applied Computational Studies. Combined, Mississippi’s universities and community colleges are developing skilled workers that are focused on excellence and who take pride in a job well done. To find your workforce advantage, visit www.mississippi.org or call the Locate Mississippi team at 1-800-360-3323.

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Educators, Employers Cultivating Skilled Workforce

John Chaffee President & CEO •••

NCEast Alliance 3802 HWY NC 58 N Kinston, NC 28504 252-522-2400 Fax: 252-523-9017 chaffee@nceast.org www.nceast.org

The Challenge Labor consistently ranks as the #1 consideration of expanding or relocating companies. The NCEast Alliance has partnered with several entities to combat the skilled worker shortfall and fill the pipeline with well-qualified talent. The comprehensive approach to workforce development has garnered attention from across the country for its level of collaboration and responsiveness to employers’ needs. Ready to Work Perhaps no program in the region has been more beneficial to employers than the WorkKeys Job Profiling matched with Career Readiness Certificates (CRC) to insure workers have the correct job-specific foundational skills to begin-on-the-job training and higher level skill development. More than 150 companies now utilize the CRC in their employment practices and nearly 50,000 people now possess a CRC — almost 11 percent of the regional labor force. “As an employer, our company understands the value of a well-trained workforce. We’ve had several jobs profiled, and the resulting use of CRC scores has helped us put the right people in the right jobs,” said Chris Martin, Mt. Olive Pickle Human Resources Director. The success of the CRC in eastern NC has allowed the region to pilot a successful Certified WorkReady Community (WRC) initiative being studied for replication statewide. Communities

can earn the WRC designation by achieving certain standards, displaying their commitment to workforce excellence (www.ncworkready.org). Craven (New Bern), Edgecombe (Tarboro), Lenoir (Kinston), Pitt (Greenville), and Wayne (Goldsboro) counties are the first five in the state to be certified. Aligning STEM Education Another component of the workforce development continuum is STEMEast (www.stemeast.org). STEMEast was conceived by NCSTEM, Lenoir County Schools, Lenoir Committee of 100, The Alliance, and area business leaders in 2009. With additional support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Golden LEAF Foundation, and private companies, a regional program was developed. STEMEast built upon the success of the CRC and WRC programs through a public/private network that supports the entire education and workforce pipeline. Although STEMEast is still a young program (launched in 2011), early results were dramatic: initially five STEM centers in four school districts, a 10–20 percent increase in pass rates on science exams, an 850 percent increase in regional Kenan Fellowships (placing teachers in company internships and development programs), and a 105 percent increase in students taking algebra within a math-focused STEM center. To date, STEMEast has assisted five counties secure over $3 million to support 36 STEM centers by 2016.

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Breadth. Depth. Success. South Carolina is ready.

Debra Hudson readySC •••

111 Executive Center Drive Columbia, SC 29210 803-896-5331 hudson@sctechsystem.edu www.readysc.org

readySC always finds itself ahead of the pack when it comes to cutting-edge technologies in recruiting and training. In fact, the program has been at the forefront of state economic development training programs across the nation for more than 50 years. Focusing on the recruiting and initial training needs of new and expanding organizations in South Carolina, the program provides recruiting, assessment, training development, and project management services to qualifying organizations. To qualify, companies must be (1) creating new, permanent, full-time jobs for the state; (2) paying a competitive wage; and (3) providing a benefits package that includes health insurance. readySC is not a grant program but works with each client organization to provide the right people at the right time with the right knowledge, skills, and abilities to achieve their production goals. Our services are available at no cost to the company. Our solutions are fast, flexible, and customized specifically to meet your needs. Our unparalleled experience in a wide variety of start-up and expansion projects in an even more varied list of industries sets us apart. From the early days managing the start-up of a textile mill, to later managing that of a major OEM automotive manufacturing facility, and more recently the

expansion of a commercial airplane manufacturer, readySC has worked with these organizations to identify the skills necessary for successful operations and deliver a recruiting and training strategy to match. In addition to working with such manufacturing companies as Boeing, BMW, Bridgestone, Continental, Michelin, ZF, and First Quality, readySC has helped a number of key customer call centers and distribution centers open operations in the state. What’s more, readySC is one of the state’s top incentives for companies creating new jobs with competitive wages and benefits. In fact, more than 85 percent of companies that have made the decision to relocate to South Carolina rank readySC’s services as playing a significant role in their ultimate decision to move here. readySC at a glance: • Trained nearly 4,700 individuals in FY 2012–13 • Trained over 275,000 people since 1961 • Served 83 companies last fiscal year • More than 85 percent of companies who’ve made the decision to relocate to South Carolina rank readySC’s services as playing a significant role in their ultimate decision to move here. Breadth. Depth. Success. South Carolina is ready. Let readySC put their unparalleled experience to work for you. For more information visit our website at www.readySC.org.

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Erie Economic Development Council

Helene Jewett Director of Development •••

Erie Economic Development Council 77 Erie Village Square, Suite 150 Erie, Colorado 80516 720-541-7760 info@erieedc.com www.erieedc.com

The greatest resource in Erie, Colorado, is our people, with nearly 53 percent of adults holding a bachelor’s degree or higher, well above the state and national levels. Our young and active residents are predominantly in the scientific, technical services, educational services, healthcare, and social assistance professions. Erie is committed to supporting aviation, bioscience, financial services, IT-software, and the healthcare and wellness industries. Companies like Front Range Hospice, provider of state-of-the-art home hospice care, and Magnum Plastics — an injection-molding manufacturer of medical components and supplier to the

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number-one kidney dialysis entity in the world — have grown in Erie because they know the opportunities Erie’s location and amenities provide. Your choice of employees and majestic sites is wide open in Erie, located in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains just 30 minutes north of Denver, 35 minutes west of Denver International Airport (DIA), 15 minutes east of Boulder, and among world-class universities and research labs. Employees are attracted to Erie for the balanced life available to them with a multitude of recreational options, high-quality educational services for themselves and their families, a variety of new housing options, and great employers for whom to work.

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WORKFORCE IN M I S S I S S I P P I

mississippi.org/workforce

WHERE CUSTOMIZED SKILLS TRAINING MEETS PRIDE IN A JOB WELL DONE.

Nucor Steel in Flowood, Mississippi

Mississippi’s skilled workforce is its greatest treasure. Mississippians have a “can-do” attitude and are driven by pride to do things right. Robust workforce training programs offered throughout the state equip Mississippi’s people with the necessary skills to get the job done. A company is only as good as its people, and that’s why more companies are choosing a Mississippi location to compete in today’s global marketplace.

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MISSISSIPPI RANKS

TOP 5 OVERALL COST OF

MISSISSIPPI IS A

RIGHT TO WORK STATE CUSTOMIZED WE OFFER STANDARD &

MISSISSIPPI RANKS

FOR COMPETITIVE

DOING BUSINESS SKILLS TRAINING LABOR COSTS

Area Development Magazine, 2012

Learn more about the Mississippi advantage at mississippi.org/workforce.

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CUSTOM TRAINING FACILITY State-of-the-art workforce training facility through a partnership with Bossier Parish Community College PRO-BUSINESS CLIMATE Lowest business taxes for new manufacturing operations in the U.S., according to the Tax Foundation and KPMG LED FASTSTART® Customized workforce recruitment and hands-on simulation training in company operations STRATEGIC LOCATION Ideal location at The Port of Caddo-Bossier plus state investments in site infrastructure and equipment improvements ROBUST INCENTIVES Tailored incentive package to meet speciﬁc project needs

“Louisiana’s custom-fit solutions are enabling us to identify and train a highly qualified staff to meet our specific technology requirements.” CORNÉ BUIJS | BENTELER STEEL/TUBE EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Benteler Steel/Tube, a division of Benteler Group specializing in manufacturing and processing of seamless steel tubes, utilized Louisiana’s custom-ﬁt solutions to establish its 675-job hot-rolling tube mill in the U.S. What can Louisiana do for your business? Find out at OpportunityLouisiana.com/CustomFit.

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