CICP

Our Conexus Indiana initiative today released its annual Manufacturing & Logistics Report Card, which assesses how our state measures up in several areas related to these two important industries – which continue to employ more than one of every five Hoosiers and account for more than a third of our Gross State Product. 

There are really any shocking revelations in the Report Card for those of us who follow economic development trends – Indiana remains the most manufacturing-intensive state in the nation, with the greatest share of per capita employment in the sector.  (While manufacturing employment has taken a hit during the recession, the decline has been across the board – not more dramatic in Indiana or the Midwest than the rest of the nation.)  We’re also among the top ten states in logistics employment, befitting our geographic advantages as the ‘Crossroads of America.’

We’ve also established a strong global position in manufacturing, both in exporting manufactured goods and attracting foreign direct investment from across the globe (indeed, we’re the only state in the Midwest to attract manufacturing investment from every continent…except Antarctica, of course).  The recession will slow our export growth, but the last several years have seen sustained record levels of manufacturing goods flowing outside of our borders.

Our tax climate is also very competitive, and leaves us well-positioned for future growth.

Our most negative ‘grade’ in this report card was in human capital – the strength of our workforce. Indiana ranked 29^th among states in our percentage of the workforce with a high school diploma and 42^nd in college-educated workers; we were also a dismal 35^th in first-year retention rates in the community college system.  In today’s knowledge-based economy, workforce is a critical competitive advantage – and Indiana is falling behind, as has been detailed extensively in this blog and elsewhere.  Manufacturing and logistics are high-tech industries that demand post-high school education/training – as the economy picks up and mass Baby Boomer retirements begin, thousands of positions could go unfilled – leading to missed opportunities for growth.

You can view the entire report card, with good scores and bad, here.