Editor's note
Strike up the band! Our guest on Who Gets What? is Larry Lafferty, the Drum Major of the IU Marching Hoosier 100 in that year. Yes, that year .. when IU’s football team went to the Rose Bowl! Listen to Larry’s story on Who Gets What? via mortonjohn.libsyn.com.
My counterpart at Ball State University, Michael Hicks, does not hesitate to point to a shortage of well-educated persons in the Hoosier workforce.

Classical economists would say, “Don’t worry about it. The market will take care of it. Wages will rise or the demand for such workers will decline.”

Economists not glued to rocking chairs are disinclined to wait for the market to find a jolly equilibrium. We urge the state to educate Hoosiers not just for tomorrow’s jobs, but to be informed citizens in tomorrow’s world.

How great is this “shortage?” When compared with the nation, Indiana is short 275,400 persons with Bachelor, Graduate, or Professional (BGP) degrees. While persons with BGP degrees are 34% of the nation’s population 25 years of age and older, only 28% of Indiana’s adults have those degrees.

We rank 42nd among the 50 states in those with BGP degrees. An addition of 275,400 would be 22% more BGP graduates in our population.

Perhaps, possession of a degree, certificate or uniform patch doesn’t indicate much more than attendance-without-dishonor. But such tokens remain the most utilized proxies for proof of acquired knowledge.

According to 2022 data from the Census Bureau, Indiana ranks 43rd attracting residents from other states or abroad. Nationally, 48% of such movers were BGP degree holders, but Indiana saw only 40% of movers with those degrees, 37th in the nation.

Within Indiana, the percent of the population 25 and older with BGP degrees is greatest in Hamiton, Boone and Monroe Counties, at 61%, 49% and 48%, respectively. Hendricks and Tippecanoe come in at 39% each, followed by Bartholomew and Warrick each just below 35%.

And that’s it. Just seven Indiana counties are above the national average of persons with BGP degrees. Trailing, just about 11% each, are Scott, LaGrange and Switzerland Counties.

That’s the status as of 2022. Where did those migrants with BGP degrees chose to go within Indiana in the past year?

Of those 133,500 changing counties within Indiana, 26% had BGP degrees. That’s not far below the 28% for the total population of 25+. However, nationally persons with BGP degrees raised the average with their intra-state movements.

Furthermore, nationally, of those changing states or entering from abroad, 50% had BGP degrees while of new Hoosiers, 42% held such degrees.

Seems like we're not on a path to catch the nation in the race for better educated residents. Is that because our businesses don’t want them, are unwilling to pay them, or they just aren’t bold enough to choose Indiana?*

*“Indiana, a state for the Bold” is now a slogan of our state government.
Morton J. Marcus is an economist formerly with the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. His column appears in Indiana newspapers, and his views can be followed his podcast.

© 2024 Morton J. Marcus

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