ECONOMIC

Goal: Drive population growth and attract new workforce by creating a more resilient economy, fostering an entrepreneurial spirit, growing existing businesses, and inspiring local innovation.

The Importance Of The Economic Pillar

The condition of the local economy is a critical component in determining how a community should identify priorities and invest money into future projects. Typically, when a community is developing, expanding, and growing, the local economy is also growing. In terms of resiliency, economic development focuses on programs, policies, or activities that seek to improve the economic well-being and quality of life of a community. This could mean different things for different communities. In the IND15RPC region, this means increasing and growing population and growing both entrepreneurial and industry all while keeping its student population here and attracting new talent. Economic development opportunities are always shifting as a community grows and industry trends change. Overall, the economic outlook for the region has been stable. Within the region, 67 percent of all jobs in the region were worked by people living in the region by 33 percent were worked by people who lived outside the region and commuted in. Unemployment rates in 2019 were only 3.2 percent for the region, increased to 10.9 percent during the pandemic in 2020, and then recovered to 3.7 percent in 2021 with a potential resurgence of job opportunities.

To create a robust and resilient economy, the IND15RPC region should ensure its economy is diversified while being open to development opportunities. As noted in Future Impacts of COVID-19 Analysis Summary (Appendix A), from 2010 to 2019 the region increased job opportunities in transportation manufacturing and wood product manufacturing. Unfortunately, there was a loss of jobs in the mining industry and other miscellaneous manufacturing industries. From 2020 to 2021 the region retained its wood product manufacturing and other miscellaneous manufacturing industries but saw job loss in both industries during this time. Despite this, generally, the economic and industrial clusters remained stagnant during the pandemic but saw significant shifts in job opportunities or loss as compared to 2010-2019. The market continues to look strong for IT/software, heavy construction, electronics manufacturing, energy markets, advanced manufacturing, logistics, and makerspaces. Based on this information and other information documented throughout the process as well as discussions with the members of the Task Force, several reasons emerged for why the IND15RPC region must place an emphasis on the Economic Pillar:

• Growing the economy is fundamental to creating resilient communities.

• Key clusters in the region are currently tourism, auto-machinery, aerospace, forestry products, major manufacturing, and manufacturing superclusters.

• The region has five designated opportunity zones that can be used to promote economic development. There is one zone in each county: Crawford, Dubois, Orange, Perry, and Pike. Spencer County does not have a designated opportunity zone.

• Critical road and river access provides linkages to other regions allowing the movement of workers, goods, and services, and fostering economic growth.

• The region can capitalize on the affordability of living in the region, quality of life, and small-town character of the area.

• The region is focused on retaining, supporting, and growing the existing business base by encouraging businesses to pay higher wages and offer a range of jobs. Diversity of jobs is important to be able to attract talent from across the region and support professional job opportunities.

• Historically, the region has relied on the coal and mining industry and manufacturing to supply jobs across the region. With the loss of the coal mining industry, the area is looking to diversify job opportunities beyond mining and manufacturing and expand into new fields including technology, logistics, and medical professions.

• As businesses increase wages, residents will have more disposable income which will help local businesses thrive and expand their services. An increase in wages will help the region attract new residents which will grow the population.

• The region prides itself on its affordability. Work-from-home has become popular since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic in March of 2020. Working from home may be an advantage for the region to attract new residents.

• Innovation is not always driven by large companies, but more often is driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and risk-taking population. The region supports the continued efforts of small local business owners to expand their business services and create opportunities for startups to locate in the region.

• Many times, rural areas have to work harder than urban areas to retain and attract their population. Looking forward, it is imperative for the region to evaluate what it will take to become the next “cool rural region.”

• The pandemic presented opportunities to entrepreneurs and small business owners to pivot their businesses to offer new products or serve their customers in different ways.