Posts Tagged ‘job creation’

Do we really need MORE jobs?

May 2nd, 2011

Note:  Kathy Callies is the Vice President for Advancement at the Rural Learning Center.

There’s a lot of buzz across the country and across our state about the need to create jobs.  It’s common to see “number of new jobs created” language in press releases and to see business incentives wrapped around this idea of “we need more jobs!”

But do we really?

In the early days of community visioning and strategic planning meetings we had conversations about how to get more job opportunities here to attract people to our community.  At first we were caught up in the box of thinking about creating more jobs.

Then a young working mom stopped to see me.  She put her elbows on my desk and said wearily but  with lots of honesty and real passion,

“It makes me so MAD when I hear about creating more jobs!  We don’t need more jobs – I have three jobs right now.  What I need is one good job so I can do better by my kids.”

What she shared has influenced my thinking and my work with rural places ever since.

More jobs or better jobs?

When I’m not here at the Rural Learning Center I love being home and there my duties include those of a farmer’s wife.  Recently my farmer asked me to attend the Cattlemen’s meeting with him.  Sid Goss from SDSM&T was going to be the speaker.  Since I’d met Sid before and since I knew he was a graduate of Carthage High School I said “yes.”

Not only was the food great but so was the presentation.  Sid’s presentation included the demographics of the number of baby boomers who are about to retire within the next 10-15 years and the fact that there are not enough younger people to fill the jobs that will be left open!  (And we are focused on creating more jobs?)  He also emphasized the need to be intentional about training the workforce that will be needed – what I heard is “We need to plan for better jobs.”

Both Sid and the young mom were talking about thinking  differently about jobs.

Summit on Poverty

I have been asked to participate in a panel at the South Dakota Summit on Children and Families in Poverty on May 5 and 6 in Ft. Pierre.  There I will be talking about the opportunity South Dakota has to prepare people for green jobs.  You can bet that I will be repeating what I’ve learned about jobs in South Dakota and how rural communities can be more intentional about their workforce.  How jobs are changing affects children and their families and in turn drives what we should be doing with regard to education, economic development, health care and in truth, every aspect of life in rural places.

I’d love to create a different kind of buzz about jobs at the Summit.  If you have a message you’d like me to share, send me a comment.  I’ll try to pass it along.  Even better, I’d love to see you there in person;  it’s not too late to register.

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Posted in Community Development, Economic Development, Poverty Reduction, Rural | Comments (0)

Harvesting the Rural Creative Economy: And why you need to read it

January 28th, 2011

Increasingly, economic development professionals are learning that talent attraction is a key element of economic development.  The question then becomes, how do we do it? 

Any community leader seeking to understand how Richard Florida’s creative economy applies to rural communities should read a new paper titled “Harvesting the Rural Creative Economy“  by Heather Hall (Jan. 2011). 

It’s a great review of current research on how this largely urban theory of economic development fits into the rural landscape.  Beyond the value of the literature review, however, I appreciate the paper for several reasons.

First, the paper gets right to the point.  Only nine pages long, including citations, it’s a quick read.  More importantly, it is written in a way that the average community leader can understand. 

Second, the paper does not attempt to sell the concept as the savior for every rural economy.  Instead the author acknowledges that rural communities “need to be cautious of the challenges that might arise.”  One of the challenges that she highlights is “whether industry and talent clustering is possible in rural areas that lack density and proximity to a mega region.”  (p. 6) That is an issue that I personally wrestle with. 

Third, the author assembles and summarizes a wide variety of research.  As someone who follows this subject, I was please to discover new materials.  In fact, I’ve placed one article, “Creativity, Tourism, Economic Development in a Rural Context:  the case of Prince Edward County,” at the top of my reading list. 

And finally, the paper puts the theories of this economic development strategy into the context of what one rural community - Prince Edward County, ON - is doing to implement them.  Readers will be impressed to learn how this rural county in southern Ontario has used an existing asset, agricultural production, to grow a “creative food movement.” As the author acknowledges, Prince Edward County may be positioned better for a creative economy because of its geography and natural resources than some communities, but it is heartening to read about a rural community that is having success making the creative class economy fit the specifics of their county.

I don’t hear much conversation in the upper Midwest about the creative class theories of economic development.  Admittedly, I don’t think they apply as neatly to rural settings as they do urban.  But I do believe that talent attraction is just as important to our economies as they are to urban economies.  This means we need to understand how to take advantage of what the current research tells us.  And “Harvesting the Rural Creative Economy” is a great place to start. 

 

Photo Credit:  ActiveSteve – Flickr

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Posted in Economic Development, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (5)

What’s going on with Job Growth in Rural South Dakota?

December 15th, 2009

Last week I published a post about a study claiming that rural communities were more “prosperous” than most people believe (click here to view a map detailing which counties the study considers prosperous).  The study used a non-traditional means of measuring prosperity (it didn’t include income and population growth as factors), which explains why some of the communities deemed prosperous could have stagnant economies and outmigration. 

Today, however, we have additional research suggesting that much of America’s western Heartland has fared well in terms of job losses during the economic down turn.

In an article titled “Location, Location, Location,” Daily Yonder reporters Bill Bishop and Roberto Gallardo note severe job losses in rural Alabama (and the Southeast US) and rural Michigan (and the eastern Midwest) from December 2007 until October 2009.

Most of us are aware of the automobile industry’s impact on job losses in Michigan and Ohio, but the Daily Yonder article highlights the industries demise is also affecting rural Alabama. 

I appreciated that the article provided a link to the data (in an Excel spreadsheet) used in generating this report.  I downloaded information for South Dakota and then segregated the ten “most urban” counties from the remaining rural counties. Click here to download my spreadsheet. (See note at bottom for my definition of “most urban”). 

It was interesting to note that the “most urban” counties in SD lost 680 jobs, while the remaining rural counties gained 1787.  This surprised me.  Can small, rural communities in SD be doing better than their more urban counterparts?

We know that many of our midsized communities in SD have struggled with manufacturing loses, but I’d be interested in understanding more about what’s going on.  How is it that the smaller rural counties have fared better in employment terms?  If you have thoughts on the issue, I’d be interested in hearing them.  

Note:  While all of SD, except Sioux Falls and Rapid City are generally considered rural, I identified the 10 most urban counties by nine largest communities and then added Lincoln to the list because of its relationship to Sioux Falls.

Map Source: Bill Bishop and Roberto Gallardo @ The Daily Yonder

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Rural vs. Urban job growth in SD

May 11th, 2009

A new report highlights a positive trend in Miner County, SD. Between 2002 and 2008, Miner County experienced a growth of 17.61% in the number of private sector jobs created in the county. That is especially good news when one considers that overall, South Dakota’s rural communities experienced a decline of .27% in private sector jobs.

The study, titled “Private Industry Change in South Dakota,” was completed by the Rural Life Census Data Center at South Dakota State University and released in their April 2009 newsletter. Read the full report here.

Overall, the study shows that South Dakota performed pretty well in the job creation arena during this period (2002-2008) with an overall growth rate of 8.6%. But most of that growth occurred in urban areas or counties bordering South Dakota’s largest communities (those with cities of over 10,000 people). (See report for comparison to surrounding states.)

In addition to its analysis, the report offers a couple brief policy implications:

1) First, the report recommends supporting the development of smaller, locally owned businesses. A community with a diversity of small, locally owned businesses allows residents to take greater ownership of the community. These communities also tend to have less inequality. To me, this sounds like a great case for investing in economic gardening practices, where local businesses are the beneficiaries.

2) Second, policy makers need to understand the relationship between poverty and private industry and take action by investing in education, vocational training, and work experience. It is interesting to note that the study emphasizes accomplishing this through grassroots civic organizations where people have an opportunity to develop greater “personal ownership and community pride.” Sounds like they are buying into the Knight Foundation’s Soul of the Community study.

Some final thoughts

Overall, I appreciate the emphasis the report places on the current economic plight of rural communities. I hope that policy makers take note that across the board, current job creation strategies in rural communities are not working well. This does not mean, however, that places experiencing decline are without hope.

There are places beyond Miner County and those next to South Dakota’s largest communities who are experiencing positive job growth. And we need to start asking why? Perhaps that’s coming in a future report by the Rural Life Census Data Center. Or perhaps you know the answer.

Note: I took note of the job growth in Miner County because it is the home to this blog. The work of the Rural Learning Center attempts to build on the economic model being used in Miner County, so highlighting a few elements of its economy provides context to the writing here.

Image Credit: The map is presented as a part of the “Private Industry Change in South Dakota” report, prepared by the Rural Life Census Data Center.

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Job Development & the Green Power Express

April 15th, 2009

It’s no secret that South Dakota has tremendous potential to be a wind energy powerhouse.  Today, it appears the state has moved one step closer to that reality. 

Both of the above statements emerged as I read two articles this morning.  The first, titled “Wind Power Development in South Dakota:  Good for Jobs, Good for the Economy and Good for the Environment“ identifies the potential benefits of job development, economic growth, and environmental stewardship that wind energy industry provides.

Produced by the Environmental Law & Policy Center (ELCP), the article is the latest in a serious of studies that show the benefits of the wind energy industry in the South Dakota economy. 

Back in October 2002, the ELCP unveiled their “Jobs Jolt” report to the South Dakota media at Energy Maintenance Services’ 6,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Howard, SD.  That report suggested that 3,800 jobs and $275 million in economic growth could be created in South Dakota by 2020 — if federal and state policy changes occurred. 

But the state still lags behind its potential.  As the “Wind Power Development in South Dakota” report  highlights, South Dakota has 188 MW of installed wind capacity.  That compares to Minnesota and Iowa each with over 1,200 MW of installed capacity.  The report also tells us there is over 4000 MW currently in the planning and development stages.  But that doesn’t guarantee they will be built.

So what needs to change to bring those wind turbines to SD?
Consistently we hear that transmission of energy produced in SD to more populated regions is the barrier.  In other words, it is an issue with an inadequate electrical grid system.

That’s why it was such good news to hear that the Green Power Express project took a step forward yesterday when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved incentives that would help construct this 3000 transmission “superhighway.”  (read more on that story here) 

Admittedly, I don’t know all the pro’s and con’s behind this project, but I love that it helps address the transmission barrier that prevents the development of the wind energy in South Dakota. 

 

Other stories about the Green Power Express

Map source:  The Green Power Express website  “Conceptual Map”

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Posted in Economic Development, Rural | Comments (0)

Mount Rushmore or an Art Festival

March 5th, 2009

If the development of the arts is economic development, should communities focus on creating an attraction like Mount Rushmore or a one-day arts festival?

In a comment on yesterday’s post, Paul alerted us to the importance of Mount Rushmore to economic development in South Dakota.  No doubt about it.  Gutzon Borglum hit a home run for the tourism industry in SD when he started the project in the 1927. 

That project, however, stands in stark contrast to what is perhaps more realistic for most small, rural communities – a one- day arts festival.  But does it make sense for a community to invest their time and effort into an activity that only has an impact one day a year?  Where are the jobs everyone so desperately needs?

Vision:  If a community wants to use the arts as a tool for economic growth, they need to create a larger vision for the future of the arts in their community.  They then need to lay out some steps that help build that vision.

Planning:  In that plan, they need to think about what tools are necessary to further the arts development in the community.  In other words, it is no different than identifying the need for a revolving loan fund and a marketing plan for recruiting a business. 

Time and Effort: In this scenario, an arts festival could be a starting point.  But the effort can’t end there; at least not if the goal is to create jobs and economic opportunity.  More of a critical mass of artists and activities would be needed to accomplish this.  And that’s going to take time and effort. 

Conclusion:  In the end, communities probably shouldn’t focus on whether they should create a Mount Rushmore or a one-day arts festival.  Instead they should ask:  What’s the vision?  What’s the plan?  And are we willing to put in the time and effort to make that happen? 

 

Note:  Interestingly, vision, planning, time and effort are equally important to the success of traditional economic development strategies.  I’d also like to be clear that I’m not recommending the arts development over other economic development strategies.  I just want to lift up arts development as one of the possibilities. 

Other Resources: If you are looking for ideas on how to stimulate the economy in your rural community through the arts, I’d recommend the following links:

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The Soul of the Community — Community-Citizen Engagement

February 10th, 2009

Economic development professionals often focus solely on job development.  The more jobs created the greater likelihood the community as a whole will judge their job performance a success. A study of 26 communities by the Knight Foundation, however, suggests that economic growth is linked to residents’ loyalty, emotional attachment and engagement to a community.  This suggests that how people feel about their community should be a measure of an economic development professional’s job performance. 

Funded by the John S. and John L. Knight Foundation and conducted by Gallup Inc., the study measured residents’ emotional connection to their community and found a direct correlation to the community’s gross domestic product (GDP).  In other words, the greater the attachment people have towards their community, the greater the community’s economic growth (as measured by GDP).

The following video offers a brief summary.


 

While I definitely believe the Knight Foundation is onto something big, I want to caution that so far they’ve only shown a correlation between community engagement and GDP.  Over the next two years, they intend to “analyze the trends to prove whether emotional connection drives economic growth, or the other way around”(from foundation’s press release ”How much do you love where you live?”).

I’d also like to be clear that community and economic development professionals can’t neglect job creation strategies altogether.  Job development and community engagement need to go hand-in-hand.

The Knight Foundation has published the results of this study on a website titled “The Soul of the Community.”  I intend to dig into the research further and will report back.  Until then, I’ve summarized a few of the studies main points, which were highlighted in the foundation’s press release.  

Other Key Points of the study

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Posted in Community Development, Community Engagement, Economic Development, In the News, Quality of Life, Rural | Comments (1)