Economically Speaking: High-tech jobs are cure for slumping state economy

Joseph L. Driskill is the director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

As our state continues to experience an economic downturn, one of the most alarming trends we see is in our labor market.

We are losing jobs at a fast rate, most of them in the manufacturing sector. Much too often, we receive word of a mass layoff somewhere in Missouri.

I'll address some of the concerns facing working Missourians. We'll try to answer the questions that are foremost in a lot of our citizens' minds: "Is my job safe?" "What can I do to improve my skills and secure my family's future?"

Former U.S. President and Missourian Harry Truman once said, "It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours."

It is unfortunate that so many Missourians are struggling through these difficult times, whether it's because of a lost job or coping with personal finances. Our state's economy is something that affects all of us in different ways and, in some cases, quite personally.

Since March 2001, Missouri has lost more than 77,000 jobs. Our current employment is the lowest it has been since April 1998.

On a percentage basis, Missouri's job loss has been among the highest in the nation most of the last year. We have seen some growth spurts in the job market, but no sustained growth over consecutive periods.

Our unemployment rate has been sporadic, sometimes rising or falling dramatically during the past months. In June 2002, Missouri's unemployment rate was 5.4 percent, the highest since 1994. We have improved since then, and our rate is still far below the 7 percent peak reached in our last recession between July 1990 and March 1991.

The latest available figure for November 2002 shows our unemployment rate standing at 4.8 percent. This is still well below the national unemployment rate of 5.7 percent.

We believe our job loss problem is largely due to the decline we have seen in the manufacturing sector.

Manufacturing makes up about 14 percent of our state's employment, which makes this a serious problem for us. Earlier in 2002, it seemed that manufacturing employment was leveling off, but it has decreased in the last two months by about 5,800 jobs.

Combine this number with the 33,100 lost manufacturing jobs between March 2001 and October 2002, and you can see the impact of these losses on our economy.

The reality is that a lot of these manufacturing jobs have been lost to overseas facilities. The facilities tend to be low-tech in nature, meaning they implement techniques that don't require as much technology.

The real growth that we are seeing and where we believe the future lies is in technology-based industries such as advanced manufacturing, life sciences and information technology.

These industries are growing quickly and offer high-paying jobs and a bright, secure future. These are three industries we are targeting in our business attraction efforts, in the hopes of bringing these jobs to Missourians.

The Department of Economic Development is taking measures to ensure that the new technology-based economy is not intimidating to our work force. We are emphasizing job training and work force development to give our workers the skills needed to excel in the workplace and make themselves more valuable to employers. Education and training is the answer to this, but not all of these tech-based jobs require a four-year college degree. Most of them do require some formal training and education.

Many training resources are available through our Division of Workforce Development and the Missouri Career Centers.

The Career Centers are located strategically around the state and offer a wide range of job-searching services. Training resources are available as well as the latest job market information for anyone looking for a new job.

Missourians can call a toll free number, 1-888-728-JOBS and it will ring in the center nearest the caller. Another resource is available at the click of a mouse, at www.greathires.org. This site connects employees and employers by providing job listings and allowing job seekers to search for training resources.

We believe Missouri's work force is one of our greatest economic resources. Maintaining the skills of our workers is one of our highest priorities because it is essential to providing economic prosperity to both businesses and workers.