Indiana Touts Another Record Year For Jobs
The IEDC says 74 commitments came from businesses bringing new operations to Indiana.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Economic Development Corp. says Indiana set another record for economic development in 2018. The state it landed 320 national and international commitments from companies, topping $7.3 billion in investment and more than 31,000 new jobs. The IEDC also reports the planned jobs offer an average wage of $26.84 per hour, which is more than 20 percent higher than the state’s current average.
The year’s biggest projects include Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), which is investing more than $80 million to establish a distribution center in Greenwood, with a potential for more than 1,250 new jobs, Illinois-based Wynright Corp. moving two manufacturing operations to Hobart with plans to create up to 582 jobs and California-based Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc. planning to invest $600 million to build a waste-to-fuel plant in Gary and create up to 163 jobs.
The IEDC says 74 of the commitments came from businesses establishing new operations in Indiana, accounting for $3.5 billion in planned investment and more than 9,100 job commitments. The state also reports 47 foreign-owed businesses committing $3.2 billion in investment and more than 6,500 new jobs. The investment total marks a 77 percent increase over last year.
One sector seeing particular growth this year is agbiosciences. The state says it secured 36 commitments from ag and agbiosciences companies, an 89 percent increase over last year,planning to create up to 2,700 jobs, a 28 percent increase over 2017.
Indiana Secretary of Commerce Jim Schellinger will be a guest this weekend on Inside INdiana Business With Gerry Dick to break down the year-end numbers.