Oh Where, Oh Where Have Software Jobs Gone?

Here is an interesting analysis by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, DC.

Software jobs, which pay some of the highest wages in America, have fallen sharply since 2000. These jobs have disappeared despite the fact that software sales to U.S. businesses in 2003 were up 4% over 2000. Comprehensive data on the number of U.S. software jobs that have moved overseas is hard to come by, but persuasive indirect evidence points towards the significant movement of software jobs to India (the most prominent of many countries to which U.S. software work is being moved).

There are two ways to look at software employment: software-producing industries and software occupations. Software-producing industries (software publishing, custom software and computer systems design) employ many people who actually work in non-computer occupations, like sales or accounting. On the other hand, software occupations (e.g., programmers and software engineers) are also found in a range of other industries, such as finance, manufacturing, and professional services.

Domestic software-related jobs, however measured, have declined significantly in recent years. U.S. jobs in software-producing industries declined by 128,000 (10%) between 2000 and 2004, while jobs in software occupations shrank by 154,000 (5%) from 2000 to 2002 (the last year data were available).

The story in India is quite different. In February, India's industry association of software and related companies (NASSCOM) published an analysis of recent trends indicating that the professional jobs in India's software export sector rose by 150,000 from 1999 to 2003. Given that 67.7% of its software exports go to the United States, this growth implies that Indian software jobs servicing the U.S. market have increased by roughly 100,000 over the last four years.

More here.

Michigan Economic Update

Michigan's economic recovery has been slower than the national average, and the problems are broader than the state's widely publicized loss of manufacturing jobs.

Michigan also has lost thousands of local government, school, retail and business service jobs since an employment peak in mid-2000. The losses are most acute in rural pockets of central and northern Michigan where the jobless rate consistently has remained above 10 percent months after the economic recovery began.

While things are somewhat better out there, there remain weak spots in the economy. Economic developers everywhere still have their work cut out for themselves in the future.

More here.

FedEx Looks at International Hub In Indy

China is shaping up as a major growth front for FedEx Corp., and the parcel delivery company's Indianapolis hub could be at the center of a strategy to increase that sector.

FedEx officials at the company's Memphis, Tenn., headquarters are talking with city officials about making its Indianapolis International Airport facility the logistics hub for all cargo traffic to and from China, according to several sources.

More here.

High-Speed Connection in Rural Pennsylvania

High-speed Internet connections are not just for the big urban areas. Click here to read how a rural Pennsylvania area is plotting to increase its connection speed.

Flint, Michigan ED Groups Look at Merger

It must be in the water. More and more ED groups are looking at mergers and other ways to re-combine and assemble their resources to improve effectiveness and increase impact. The latest is Flint, Michigan.

Three area economic development and business groups could become one depending on an upcoming study into whether they are better off merging.

The Flint Area Chamber of Commerce, Flint-Genesee Economic Growth Alliance and Genesee Area Focus Council Inc. spend more than $3 million a year, but struggle to bring jobs to the area.

More here.

What Hyundai Wants in Alabama

“The company wanted a pool of people they could select from and be confident in their abilities,” Castile said. “They were looking for skills, attitude and trainable people with a good work ethic.”

This is a clip from a recent Expansion Management article that discusses the growing importance of workforce training and development to companies. The reference above is about Hyundai's decision to locate in Alabama.

More here.

Economy Still in Soft Patch

Worker productivity growth slowed in the second quarter, retailers saw tepid sales in August and new claims for unemployment benefits were up last week, according to a trio of reports that suggested the economy was still working through its rough patch.

I am a little concerned about the productivity slip. That's key to our global competitiveness. If we lose in this arena, we have set the stage for lots more offshoring.

Education and Economic Development

“In today’s knowledge-based global economy, nothing is more important to companies than the ability to find, and employ, an increasingly well-educated work force,” said Bill King, chief editor of Expansion Management magazine. More here.

Engaging Citizens About Economic Development

This is an issue that I am working on in one of my consulting projects. In simple terms, citizens need to be engaged in the economic development process in a more meaningful way than they currently are. Why? Because citizens are very powerful economic actors in society.

Think of the issue this way. Citizens play five major roles in the economy: 1) consumer; 2) employee; 3) business owner, manager, entrepreneur; 4) voter; and 5) taxpayer.

Two-thirds of U.S. GDP is comprised of consumer spending. The national Presidential election this November will be determined by how the two candidates are viewed as economic stewards for our nation.

Basically, I find that most EDOs give little to no attention to the issue of citizen involvement and engagement in their work. Yes, some do. Most do not.

Is this an easy issue to deal with? No. In fact, it may be one of the hardest challenges we face in our field. The public is not easy to deal with...but we must.

I am thinking along two tracks about this issue: 1) how we can gain better citizen involvement, support, inputs, and activism around the "community economic agenda"; and 2) how we can help citizens choose better personal economic futures for themselves and their families. We are not equipping people with the tools to accomplish either. In many ways, this is a job that should start in the third grade of people's educational life.

And our workforce development and educational allies need to come to the table on this one. They need to do a better job in this area as well.

Any thoughts on this one?

Pittsburgh's Looming Worker Shortage

Does this story sound familar to your area It might.

The trend has some people worried. "A silent crisis threatens the prosperity of Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania," warned a report done two years ago by the Center for Competitive Workforce Development at Duquesne University. "A declining and aging population places at risk the stability of the region's work force and opportunities for economic progress."

More than 16 percent of Pittsburgh's population is above the official retirement age of 65. By 2012, southwestern Pennsylvania could face a shortage of 125,000 workers - about a tenth the size of today's labor force, according to the Duquesne University report.

More here. (Free registration required)

U.S. Commerce Chief Says Ohio Needs to Reform State Business Climate

The Ohio economy is not recovering at a pace equal with the rest of the country, because the business climate needs to improve, according to U.S. Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans.

To continue to recover, Evans said, Ohio needs to join its neighboring states to create a regional economic block to attract private investment dollars, academic expertise and use of local, state and government leaders to create and keep jobs.

Evans said Ohio needs to create business-friendly rules, regulations and laws. It needs its academic institutions to be sensitive to the educational needs of new industry. And he said local communities have to be interested in and willing to create an environment that attracts investment.

Read more here. (Free registration required)

Arizona Mayors Debate Tax Incentives

To see what they have to say, click here.

ED Loses a Great One

Many of you knew Jim King, a leading consultant and advisor to economic development organizations worldwide. Jim died last month. Here is a short piece about his career and life.

Sacramento resident Jim King, a nationally respected authority on economic development issues, succumbed to a heart attack August 14 at a local hospital. He is survived by his daughter Jodee King Carlson, her husband Mike Carlson and their daughter Sierra, all of Truckee; his son Eric R. King of Dallas, Texas, and his very dear friend Phyllis Gray. He also leaves a host of devoted friends and colleagues here in California and across the country who will miss his gentle mentoring, sage insights, and consistency of character.

James Robert King was born on December 19, 1931, in Dallas and was a graduate of North Texas University. He began his career in Washington, D.C. during the 1960s as a senior aide to the assistant secretary of the Housing and Urban Development Agency responsible for the Model Cities Program, President Lyndon Johnson¹s signature Great Society initiative. He later went to New Orleans as director of the Model Cities Program there under Mayor M.E. ³Moon² Landrieu before coming to California in 1971 to run San Jose¹s Office of Policy Research under Mayor Norm Mineta (now the U.S. Transportation Secretary).

In 1984, he moved to Sacramento to become the chief consultant to the Assembly¹s Economic Development Committee and then the principal advisor on economic issues and trends for the California Commission for Economic Development under the chairmanship of Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy. This marked the start of a period in which Jim had an increasingly influential impact on economic development policymaking both at the Capitol and throughout California.

As a private consultant over the past decade and a half, Jim advised an extensive roster of cities, counties, states, private sector businesses, public interest associations, research institutions, and economic development agencies. He ultimately came to be recognized as one of the nation's leading experts on rural economic development strategies and was named to the California Rural Development Council and to the Executive Board of the National Rural Development Partnership.

A much sought-after speaker and conference moderator, Jim co-authored the Handbook on Economic Development published by the League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties, and the California Association for Local Economic Development. From time to time, his unfailingly perceptive and lucid commentaries on the state's economic policy challenges appeared on the Op-Ed pages of the Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee.

Jim will be missed by all of us.

Tech Workers Not Jumping Jobs

Tech workers are holding on to their jobs tighter than they have in more than 20 years.

Just 8.9% of tech workers willingly left their jobs last year, says an Aon Consulting survey of 595 of the world's best-known tech firms, including Microsoft, Cisco Systems and Intel. It was the third year in a row that voluntary turnover dropped. "It's as low as I've seen it, and I've been tracking these numbers since the early '80s," says study author John Radford.

The numbers do not include workers who are laid off, Aon says. Last year, 11.2% of the workforce left jobs involuntarily, compared with 20.3% in 2001, when the tech bubble burst.

The continued decline is a surprise because the economy is improving. During tight times, workers who dislike their jobs often stay because there are few other offers. But turnover rises when the job market looks better — as it does now. Only 1.6% of the companies Aon surveyed have a hiring freeze; 29% are hiring normally — a big change from the tight years. Salaries and bonuses are up for every category of employee, Aon says.

Workers are still skittish, employment experts say. "There were so many layoffs," Radford says. "The mentality is any job is a good job."

More here.

Latest on Wal-Mart

A growing number of people are squawking about oversized Wal-Mart and how it pushes its way around and through American communities. Click here to get the latest on the shopping giant.

Southeast Asia's Richest

You know the golden rule, right? He who has the gold rules.

If you want to make inroads with SE Asian businesses, start with the people who control them. Start by taking a look at the list of SE Asia's most wealthy people.

Go here.

Korea's New Political Economy

Things have gotten interesting in Korea these days--politically and otherwise.

South Korean voters undoubtedly aspired for change when they elected maverick human-rights lawyer Roh Moo Hyun as President nearly two years ago. His promise to clean up corruption struck the right chord with an electorate disgusted by money's influence on politics, democracy, and decision-making. And Roh's mandate appeared to have been reaffirmed in April, when his ruling Uri Party snatched parliamentary control from the conservative opposition, which had enjoyed two-thirds majority. For the first time in South Korea's history, both the presidency and the National Assembly are controlled by liberals.

Roh insists that he's doing away with the distorted institutions and practices put in place by those who collaborated with the military dictators who ruled since the early 1960s and the Japanese colonialists who occupied Korea before its liberation in 1945. But his policies are deepening ideological and generational rifts between the young liberals and older conservatives. Indeed, the President and his ardent followers are preoccupied with weakening the wealthy, connected conservatives. That's worrying because Korea must focus on improving its competitiveness against a rapidly industrializing China, and a polarized nation won't be able to do that.

Stay tuned.

More here.

Solar Energy Gets More Attention

Those of you interested in alternative energy will find this Business Week article to be quite interesting. It provides an update on what is happening with solar energy worldwide. In a word, a great deal is happening as oil prices climb and as businesses see the increasing benefit of going green. More here.

Metro Denver's $12.5 Million Marketing Campaign

The Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. selected the marketing team of PURE and DCI-Denver for a $12.5 million, five-year national marketing campaign.

Denver-based PURE is a one-year-old independently owned advertising agency run by Dan Igoe, former president of Denver-based Barnhart. His creative director is the former creative director for Denver-based McLain Finlon.

DCI is a 44-year-old national economic development marketing firm with headquarters in New York and regional offices in Denver and four other cities.

More here.

Nissan Expansion in Tennessee Means More Jobs!

Tennessee got some good news recently with the announcement by Nissan of more production and more jobs in the state.

Go here to read more.

NY State Helps Communities with ED Plan Funding

Gov. Pataki's office has announced that $400,000 is being made available through the state's Office for Small Cities to help local communities create and carry out economic-development plans.

Communities may apply for $25,000 in assistance, with applications due by Oct. 18.
The federal funding, which is administered by the state, is intended to help communities identify potential problems, as well as available resources, and determine what steps need to be taken to reach development goals.

More information is available from the Governor's Office for Small Cities at (518) 474-2057 or www.nysmallcities.com.

Good move! Need about $4 million to make a difference though.

Moving from Good to Great

Read the series in the Cincinnati Enquirer. Here are the questions to several big city mayors:

• How have you defined success for your city?
• What does it take to raise a good city into a great city?
• Do you try to run your city as a business? What investments are needed in housing, commercial development, industrial development, technological development and tourism to make a great city?
• What do you need from partners to make a great city?
• How do you reduce city vs. suburban rivalries and build a more united metro area?
• Who is your competition for development and tourism? Each other? Out-of-state cities? Who are your benchmarks?
• Would additional mayoral powers help you make your city more successful, and if so, what powers?
• What action do you need to take if city "product lines" (housing, etc.) don't meet their goals?
• What's your impression of Cincinnati, and what advice would you give Cincinnati?

Click here to get the answers.

Florida's Top Companies

Let's say you wanted to know who are the top companies in Florida, where would you look? I'd click right here for starters.

Hand-Held Business Education

Interesting article here on how MBA programs are equipping their students with everything from BlackBerrys to iPods. Just goes to show you have "connected" you are in the business world.

Company Research Tool

Researching business prospects? You may want to use The Post's free company research search engine, located here. Give it a click and see what you get. The engine includes a feature allowing you to identify a publicly traded company's major competitors.

Skilled Labor Worries Grow

It's back...that is the skilled labor shortage issue, or so say employers. The labor market has grown increasingly complex these days, with offshoring, continued poor educational performance by Americans, and increased business competition on all fronts. Yet, companies are still trying to muster the workforce to grow and expand here in this country.

Click here to read an interesting Washington Post in-depth article on our "situation." (Free registration required.)