[StBernard] Work force key to La. future

[Westley Annis]

Work force key to La. future
 By CARL REDMAN
Advocate executive editor
Published: Oct 14, 2007 - Page: 9B 

Louisiana has labor problems. Preliminary estimates in the latest state
Department of Labor bulletin put the state's seasonally adjusted civilian
labor force in August at 1.98 million people, with 1.9 million employed and
just 75,621 unemployed and looking for work.

Revised figures from August 2005, before Hurricane Katrina struck, indicate
the state had 2.12 million people in the labor force, with 2 million
employed, and 119,774 unemployed and looking for work.

In short, Louisiana has about 145,000 fewer people in the civilian labor
force today than it had before Katrina.

Couple that with U.S. Census Bureau data on the educational attainment of
adults 25 and older:

The census data for 2006 show 79.7 percent of such adults in Louisiana have
a high school education or higher - the second-worst rate in the nation.
Also, 21.2 percent of Louisiana adults 25 and older possess a bachelor's
degree or higher. That's the eighth-worst college completion rate in the
nation.

The statistics paint a picture of a state in which the labor force is
stretched thin.

Louisiana's capacity to provide the highly skilled workers for today's
"knowledge economy" is limited by numbers and by the educational level of
the work force.

This is one of the greater challenges the next governor will face.

When asked about the state's economy and brain drain during a recent forum,
each of the major candidates for governor went into his economic-development
spiel.

Republican U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal's plans include providing consistent
funding for state universities, more quickly eliminating business taxes and
offering employers a "Day 1 guarantee" that they will have an able work
force.

"A lot of employers want to expand here, want to come here, want to stay
here," said Jindal of Kenner. "But, if they can't find the skilled workers,
they won't do that. &hellip We will guarantee that our people are skilled
and ready to work on the first day or we will train them for free."

Jindal didn't say where he'll find people who are trained or trainable.

Democratic state Sen. Walter Boasso wants to see greater efforts to foster
growth in businesses already located here.

Boasso of Arabi said he would marshal economic development directors from
across the state to meet with every company in the state and ask two
questions: What can be done to keep them in the state, and what can be done
to help them expand?

Boasso talked of getting businesses to locate in north Louisiana communities
where workers are available.

Boasso didn't talk about the educational deficiencies of many of those
workers.

New Orleans businessman John Georges, who is running without a party
affiliation, talked about making Louisiana's taxes competitive with other
states and coordinating Louisiana's job training activities and regional
economic development plans.

Georges also touted setting up business incubators where state agencies,
including universities and vocational schools, work together to help startup
businesses.

One detail is lacking: Where are the people going to come from to staff
those startups?

Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell of Bossier Parish wants to put
money into targeted opportunities around the state and into training people
for the workplace. His big push would be to eliminate the income tax to make
Louisiana more attractive to wage earners.

Each of the major candidates for governor points to education - particularly
vocational training in addition to traditional elementary, secondary and
college education - as essential to economic growth.

But education is a long-term solution to work force problems and not a
short-term answer for getting ready-and-able workers needed for immediate
economic growth.

Louisiana political leaders must stop thinking and talking about "creating"
jobs.

The goal must be to create a work force capable of filling jobs that come to
Louisiana.

In the long term, that means improving education, but that will take years
to bear fruit.

In the meantime, the next governor must confront the politically sensitive
prospect of spending state resources to attract skilled workers from other
states to fill jobs that Louisiana's unemployed people are not ready for and
can't be trained quickly enough to fill.

Carl Redman is executive  editor of The Advocate.
 

  
 
  
 

  
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