Indiana Attracting Investment, Jobs

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As Indiana enters the second half of the year, the state appears to be on pace to more than double the number commitments for jobs and investment it saw during the first six months of 2020. Governor Eric Holcomb says the Indiana Economic Development Corp. has received commitments for approximately $3.9 billion in capital investment this year, compared to approximately $2 billion at this time last year. According to data from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. 155 companies have committed to locate or expand operations in Indiana, resulting in more than 17,000 new jobs.

In the current episode of the Business & Beyond with Gerry Dick podcast, the Governor says Indiana is becoming a state that is known for more than manufacturing. 

“During the pandemic, we hit a record number of new job commitments come into the state because businesses didn’t shut down forever. They’ve got to grow, or they will die, even in the face of a pandemic,” said Holcomb. “They were making investments, doing the analysis, and they were looking at places good ecosystems where they could grow, and Indiana was on their radar.”

Holcomb says while Indiana already has a global reputation in manufacturing, the state now has an emerging profile in innovation and R & D. “We’re now increasingly becoming a player on the big stage in terms of the research and development. And so, you’re seeing us lean more and more into that phase of the whole process,” said Holcomb. But he says attracting those kinds of investments and jobs requires the state to reinvest the revenue into job training and skilling up the Hoosier workforce to compete with others around the world.

Holcomb says the state is in a position to be more selective about the type of industries it draws, including those offering more attractive pay. “If you see those job commitments come down, it’s because…we’re going for higher wage jobs.”

Listen to more of Gerry Dick’s conversation with Governor Eric Holcomb on the Business and Beyond podcast by clicking here.