New jobs bode well for state of Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS -- Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan pointed to new job growth figures as a sign Indiana's economy is on the mend.\nThe state gained 6,700 jobs in March, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since the end of the recession in November of 2001, Indiana gained 4,300 jobs, compared with a loss of 323,000 jobs in the country.\nKernan said the growth is the result of the 2002 General Assembly taking bipartisan action to cut business taxes and invest in job-creation efforts.\n"I don't believe that it's an accident," Kernan said Monday of the job growth. "What we are seeing is the benefit of those decisions and those investments."\nRepublicans have criticized Indiana's job growth and have used their own numbers to point out what they call failures in the Kernan administration.\nLuke Messer, executive director of the state Republican Party, said a few optimistic statistics won't make up for lost jobs like 300 recently cut at Old National Bancorp in Evansville and 990 at the Thomson television picture tube plant in Marion.\n"If you're a person who's out of work, you really don't care about rhetoric over job-loss statistics," Messer said. "You can twist the numbers any way you want, but you can't turn on a TV set or open a newspaper without seeing evidence of job loss."\nKernan acknowledged more work has to be done and said Indiana needs to keep being aggressive in attracting new jobs.\n"A lot of folks in Indiana have been hurt over the last four years," Kernan said. "For every one of these jobs that we talk about gaining or losing, it directly affects one worker and their family. That is why this has been, is and will continue to be an area of great concern."\nThe issue of jobs will continue to be an issue throughout the gubernatorial campaign.\nRepublican challengers Mitch Daniels and Eric Miller say more needs to be done to bring in jobs. Kernan campaign officials have said Republicans downplay good news for the state.\nWithout mentioning specifics, Kernan said he will continue to look to new ways to bring in jobs to the state.\n"We will certainly be looking for additional ways to build on the foundation laid in 2002 with the tax restructuring," Kernan said. "We'll continue to look for ways to tweak what has been done"