Indiana spent $43,000 per job in economic development in last six years

Economist Michael Hicks found Indiana has given out $2.2 billion in state incentives to attract 50,600 jobs over the last six years, which breaks down to a cost of $43,700 per position in a state where the average income is only $38,812 per person. Hicks questioned whether that was a good investment considering that existing firms created 84 percent of new jobs between 1995 and 2013.

The Ball State study found the 90 million net jobs created in the United States since 1970 involved few “footloose” firms that can just pick up and move anywhere that has lower taxes or better quality of life or whatever other selling point. Most were instead the result of expansions of existing companies and plants.

Hicks, a professor of economics and the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University, found that a random county in Indiana in fact only has a chance to win a factory that employs 500 about one out of every 35 years.

The study concluded a better approach, and wiser investment of tax dollars, would be to attract workforce talent and invest in schools to improve the quality of the workforce.