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12

BizVoice/Indiana Chamber – July/August 2017

Moving Forward, But a Quicker Pace Required

INDIANA’S PROGRESS

“If you’re not keeping score,

you’re just practicing.”

This popular quote, and its various iterations,

applies in a number of circumstances far

beyond athletic competitions. From school

grades to business profits and losses,

measurement and evaluation are essential.

The Indiana Chamber works with others

on a regular basis to help enhance Indiana’s

economic outcomes. We established long-

range goals through the

Indiana Vision 2025

plan, first introduced in 2012, and measure

the state’s economic performance via this

Report Card on a biannual basis.

So what does the scorecard tell us for

2017? We’ll answer that by looking at each of

the four drivers of the plan.

Outstanding Talent

Student achievement is improving at an

early age, based on fourth grade NAEP test

scores. Those stronger results do not always

carry over to the eighth grade level. (Expansion

of pre-K efforts for low-income students and

families will provide assistance toward the

goal of eliminating educational achievement

gaps. Indiana, in particular, has widening gaps

for low-income eighth graders).

Indiana is seeing progress in the number of

degree and credential holders, but its 50-state

ranks – 39th in bachelor degrees, 40th in

associates and 42nd when adding in high-quality

credentials per the latest Lumina Foundation

data – remain lacking. Consider this: Indiana

ranks third in science and technology degrees

produced, but 42nd in the percent of

population holding such degrees.

Possibly the biggest challenge, however,

might be with the incumbent workforce. Released

in conjunction with this Report Card were the

results of the Chamber’s 10th annual employer

workforce survey. Among its key findings:

• The number of respondents that left jobs

unfilled due to under-qualified applicants

increased to 47% – from 39%, 43% and

45% the last three years

• Those indicating that filling their workforce

was their biggest challenge also increased –

29% after previous marks of 20%, 24%

and 27%. Add in the “next biggest

challenge” scenario and the number soars

to 79% (continuing the upward total from

72%, 74% and 76% the last three years)

• When asked about education incentives

offered to employees, 76% report offering

flex scheduling and 57% help employees

develop career plans. Although 48% offer

tuition assistance, less than 5% of

employees use the assistance with 60% of

employers reporting employees are not

motivated to participate and 35% reporting

employees see no personal benefit in

advancing their education

Without upskilling Indiana’s incumbent

By Tom Schuman

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Indiana Chamber released the 2017 version of the Indiana Vision 2025 Report Card and the 10th annual employer workforce survey in

early June. Below is the narrative from that report. The Report Card (

www.indianachamber.com/2025)

also contains progress on the 36 goals since the plan was

introduced in 2012, top/bottom states and Indiana’s performance in each of 62 metrics, and a per-metric comparison for Indiana from the 2015 to 2017 evaluations.

More than 60 people participated in the first

Indiana Vision 2025

regional forum in South Bend, including

a panel of emerging professionals (below) that addressed talent attraction and retention efforts.

FEATURE STORY