Economists say jobs in state growing

INDIANAPOLIS -- Employment in Indiana is expected to grow by about 30,000 jobs next year as the state emerges from recession, a panel of Indiana University economists said Thursday.\n"The wind is back in the sails of the state economy," said Morton Marcus, director of the Indiana Business Research Center. "It will be the first time in several years that the state has experienced growth in total employment."\nSteady sales of automobiles and home-related items will also help the Indiana economy, which the economists said was not hurt as much by the national recession as some other states.\nAlthough Indiana has lost about 100,000 jobs in the past year, its unemployment rate of 5 percent is still lower than the national average.\n"If you look at the economic statistics about this most recent recession, Indiana looks better than a lot of states," said James Smith, a senior lecturer in finance in IU's business school. "This was a little bit of a different recession (for Indiana). The car repossession people were busier picking up Porsches in Palo Alto than they were picking up pickup trucks in Gibson County, Indiana."\nHowever, the recession has had a big impact in some areas of the state, causing big job losses in manufacturing. In Anderson, parking lots at plants are empty, said Cindy Miller, president of the United Auto Workers Local 662 in Anderson.\nShe said the jobs coming into the area are mostly service positions paying $7 to $8 per hour --\nwages too low to support a family.\n"I hope those economists are right," she said. "I'm hopeful."\nBut while the economists predict a brighter future for Indiana's economy, they cautioned that the outlook is not entirely rosy.\nFor instance, tax revenues for state and local governments are expected to continue showing little or no increase, they said.\n"We're looking at a situation where state and local governments are going to be hard pressed to fund services," Marcus said. "It will probably take another year before that situation begins to improve. Revenues tend to lag behind economic performance, particularly on the upside."\nUncertainty also surrounds the state about the changes in property value reassessment and the effect those changes will have.\n"People don't know what's going to happen and there is some hesitation in the state to build new homes or improve homes because people don't know what's going to happen next," Marcus said.\nThe panelists, however, said if Indiana is to improve its long-term prosperity, it must boost the education level of its work force, upgrade the state's image, improve its transportation system and increase services.\nSmith said that Indiana ranks 43rd in the nation in the number of residents 25 and older with college degrees -- about the same level as Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi.\nMarcus pointed out that Indiana, as a state, needs to make itself more attractive to prospective residents and rid itself of its corn-and-soybeans image.\nTransportation improvements, such as the planned expansion of Indianapolis International Airport and the extension of Interstate 69 through southwestern Indiana, could also help, he said.\nAnother step that finance professor Robert Neal said would help the state would be the adoption of daylight-saving time.\n"If you want to play with the big guys, you've got to stay on their time," he said.