Workforce Developments :: January 2008
In This Issue..
- Hoosier employment in auto manufacturing
- GrowthStart Project growing in Eastern Indiana
- WorkKeys providers to expand
- Lilly Endowment Inc provides $38 million in grants to boost training
- Southwest Indiana WIRED project unveils implementation plan
About this Newsletter
Welcome to the latest issue of Workforce Developments, a monthly e-mail newsletter from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
This newsletter is designed to keep Indiana policy and opinion makers and other officials up to date on activities taking place in workforce development across the state. Please forward it to others you believe might find the content useful.
Hoosier employment in auto manufacturing
Despite widespread contraction in the nation's automobile manufacturing industry, Indiana's employment in the automobile manufacturing industry has grown 53 percent between 1997 and 2006, according to a recent study by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The state's auto manufacturing growth has been largely fueled by the addition of non-domestic auto makers to the mix, including Toyota, Honda and Subaru. Greensburg's Honda plant, set to open in 2008 will bring an additional 2,000 jobs to this industry, and a Toyota/Subaru collaborative venture has added another 1,000 jobs in the Lafayette area during 2007.
The trends among the states in automobile manufacturing employment can be seen in the chart below.
| State |
Employment
1997* |
Employment
2006* |
|---|---|---|
| Michigan |
84,700 |
56,800 |
| Ohio |
36,800 |
28,000 |
| Kentucky |
17,000 |
16,400 |
| Missouri |
18,600 |
12,800 |
| Indiana |
8,100 |
12,400 |
| Alabama |
1,600 |
12,300 |
| Texas |
5,600 |
8,900 |
| California |
7,000 |
8,700 |
| Oklahoma |
4,300 |
3,100 |
| United States |
286,800 |
236,100 |
|
*Average annual; Data not seasonally adjusted | ||
Another industry segment in the transportation sector, motor vehicle body and trailer manufacturing -- which includes motor vehicle bodies, truck trailers, motor homes, travel trailers and campers -- has grown by 49.6 percent (13,100 jobs) between 1997 and 2006 in Indiana, compared to U.S. growth of 13.9 percent (22,000 jobs). Employment in this industry surged in 2006 in response to emergency housing demands in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and has been shedding jobs over the last 12 months, both nationally and in Indiana. However, Indiana employment appears to be stabilizing, with August 2007 employment of 37,500 matching that of August 2005.
For the full story, go here.
GrowthStart Project growing in Eastern Indiana
The Eastern Indiana workforce region (Economic Growth Region 6) continues to focus on growing new businesses by promoting entrepreneurship activities throughout its nine- county region.
Utilizing a grant from the state's Strategic Skills Initiative, the region has begun the GrowthStart Project. Through this project, the region plans to support the growth of new ventures in agri-business and small business, develop high school students as future entrepreneurs and work with MBA students to launch new business ventures.
For more information, go to http://www.growthstartproject.com/ or contact Tracy Hartman, Business Services Representative, Strategic Skills Initiative at 800-483-2742 ext. 106 or Email thartman@asgcorp.org.
More organizations will soon be able to provide WorkKeys assessments to job seekers and students in Indiana, as a result of changes recently put into place by the Department of Workforce Development.
As a result of the growing interest in the WorkKeys assessments, the state's contract with WorkKeys has been amended to extend the WorkKeys assessor option to partners and other third parties outside of the DWD. The contract amendment means that regional operators, service providers, partner agencies and others will be able to provide the WorkKeys assessments as part of the overall WorkKeys initiative.
WorkKeys® is a national workforce development system designed to help individuals develop better job and career skills. WorkKeys® links education and business partners, offering a common language to help identify the job and career skill requirements needed to develop employees and build a better Hoosier workforce. Hoosiers who complete the WorkKeys assessments will know their individual strengths and can be better prepared for success in job search or career advancement.
For additional information on the WorkKeys program, go here or contact Martha Finch-Anderson at mfinch-anderson@dwd.IN.gov.
Lilly Endowment Inc provides $38 million in grants to boost training
Lilly Endowment Inc. will provide $38 million in grants to two Bartholomew County organizations to fund educational programs and training in the areas of advanced manufacturing, health care services and hospitality and tourism for 10 counties in Southeast Indiana.
The Community Education Coalition will receive $26 million; $12 million will be awarded to Heritage Fund - the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County. The two organizations will provide leadership, oversight and management support services for the regionally-focused initiative called Economic Opportunities 2015 (EcO15).
The EcO15 initiative will directly impact the state's workforce development Region 9, which consists of the counties of Bartholomew, Dearborn, Decatur, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Jennings, Ripley, Ohio and Switzerland. Heritage Fund will work with the community foundations in the region to distribute grant funds into each county. The key objective of the initiative is to advance people in the region by at least one level in their training, education and/or job placement.
Proceeds of the Lilly Endowment grants, which build on earlier workforce development grants from the state, will be focused on three primary economic growth areas:
Advanced Manufacturing: As more than 28 percent of the region's workforce (38,000 people) is dedicated to advanced manufacturing, a substantial portion of the grant will be dedicated to developing an advanced manufacturing network of excellence, incorporating the regional Dream It. Do It. initiative. This network will establish a comprehensive advanced manufacturing education and training program that will use regional advanced manufacturing labs positioned throughout Southeastern Indiana.
Health Care Services: More than 10 percent of the region's workforce (14,000 people) is employed in the health care services sector. Proceeds of the grant will be leveraged to create a regional network of stationary and mobile clinical simulation labs that can be used for accreditation and advanced degree certifications.
Hospitality/Tourism: Revenue from the gaming industry has helped spur tourism efforts in the region and created a heavy demand for service employees. The grant will help create training and career pathway development for meaningful careers in the hospitality and tourism field.
Within the next several years, the southeastern region will experience a demand for 4,000 employees for skilled manufacturing jobs. The announcements by Honda Motor Company to locate its new assembly plant in Greensburg and by Cummins Inc. to locate a new light-duty diesel assembly plant in Columbus have provided both opportunities and challenges for the region.
Southwest Indiana WIRED project unveils implementation plan
As readers of this e-newsletter are aware, Indiana is the recipient of two Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development or WIRED grants, a program of the U.S. Department of Labor designed to strengthen the links between economic and workforce development. The two regions implementing these federal grants are in North Central and Southwest Indiana.
The WIRED team from Southwest Indiana recently unveiled their implementation plan. The ambitious plan contains five program goals:
- Better meet workforce needs through education, regional collaboration and focused workforce development. The goal's strategies and activities are built around a major regional effort to increase Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) capacity and enrollment and by increasing technical and career skills development for both existing and emerging workers.
- Better integrate economic development and workforce development for job creation. Just preparing workers for good jobs is not enough. Regional leadership must also ensure the regional economy creates the jobs so that the education and training in the first goal isn't an empty promise. The region is committed to formalizing their relationship for manpower planning, jointly participate(ing) in obtaining detailed information about future worker needs, and regularly publishing future job requirements.
- Entrepreneurship: Because studies show that more than half of all new jobs are created by small businesses and entrepreneurial businesses, it is critical that the regional job creation plan include a supportive culture in which entrepreneurial businesses be encouraged and supported.
- Develop transportation, distribution, and logistics capabilities for economic growth - The region is well located in relation to most of the large centers of economic activity in the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. and its transportation assets are excellent. The highway network will become stronger once Interstate 69 between Evansville and Indianapolis is constructed.
- Promote broadband access to accelerate communication, education and economic development. Broadband access in the primarily rural Southwest Indiana Region is not uniform. High Speed Internet is available in many areas but there are also many locations with only dial up or no access at all. Simply stated, how can a WIRED Region be a success if it is not a "Wired" region?
For more information, go here.
Stay Connected
To get the Hot Jobs for Today
widget on your site, click here.
