BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Times of Northwest Indiana
holecek@nwitimes.com
MERRILLVILLE | Throughout Indiana, people are expressing uncertainty about the economy and about jobs, said Gerry Dick, keynote speaker at Thursday's 2008 Indiana University Northwest Business Speaker Series luncheon.
Many companies are leaving the state or reducing their work forces, Dick added, at the event hosted by the IUN's School of Business and Economics and the IUN Business Alliance.
"... Everyone in business is continually under the gun to be more competitive," he said, adding that although some businesses are closing or cutting employment, other companies are moving to Indiana and many already here are expanding.
"I've not seen a time when there was more economic activity around the state," said Dick, who is the host and creator of Inside INdiana Business and president of Grow INdiana MediaVentures, a multimedia company.
Dick contends Indiana's manufacturing sector is alive and well, and vital to the state's economy. However, its manufacturing growth is lagging behind the rest of the country and faces serious challenges, especially the issue of work force literacy, he said.
Today's advanced knowledge-based manufacturing is different from the industry of 25 years ago when workers where hired directly from high school, Dick said.
The "whole perception of what manufacturing is has changed," and even heavy industry depends on its workers being computer literate and understand algebra, he said.
"There are 1 million Hoosiers who lack basic work skills for the 21st Century," Dick said. "... Long-term work force literacy has the potential to be good or bad for the state. ... That's where Indiana needs to focus. We need to change the culture."
Brain drain from the state, and workers' lifestyle choices that add to a company's health care costs, also are high on the list of its challenges, Dick said.
Yet, the state is moving in the right direction, he said. The state's economic initiatives, which he said never been described as innovative, are moving forward. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is working to attract out-of-state businesses. Regional cooperation from such groups as the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority, are promoting economic regionalism and there is growing collaboration on education between the private and public sectors, Dick said.
Research parks, business incubators and trade missions also are examples of the change in mindset that is helping Indiana's economic development efforts, Dick said.
"There are plenty of challenges that can't be ignored," he said. "But, I like what's happening. Indiana can compete on a global basis ... Do we have the will to make it happen?"