Missouri: Continued Growth, Innovation and Workforce Training

05 Sep, 2018

The Show Me state’s economy continues to show strong growth for high tech jobs and other core industries. In the past 18 months employers have created more than 26,000 new jobs in the state, outpacing the national job growth rate.

The latest challenge in fact is not demand, but rather supply. In late spring the Hawthorn Foundation, the Missouri Department of Economic Development and the Missouri Department of Higher Education launched Talent for Tomorrow, an initiative that will fundamentally reset Missouri’s approach to meeting the state’s workforce needs.

“Ensuring that our economy has available, productive and talented workers is the single most important factor for success in economic development. Our businesses will thrive and Missouri will be more competitive if we attract, retain, and grow our workforce,” Director of Missouri’s Department of Economic Development Rob Dixon said. The initiative will produce an assessment of how the state’s current workforce aligns with employer needs, look at different economic scenarios to help build a workforce system that can adapt as the economy evolves, and identify a pilot project.

The state has the seventh largest public road and highway system and 130 public airports, including two international airports. Missouri is centrally located within 600 miles of 51 percent of U.S. households and 52 percent of U.S. manufacturers.

“I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.” -Harry Truman

Missouri is the only state with two Federal Reserve Banks (Kansas City and St. Louis) and is home to the regional headquarters of several major banks including Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp and Regions as well as headquarters for Commerce Bank, Central Bank and UMB Bank.

Thriving in Auto, Banking & Technology

The Missouri Department of Economic Development works to create an environment that encourages economic growth by supporting Missouri’s businesses and diverse industries, strengthening our communities, developing a talented and skilled workforce, and maintaining a high quality of life.

At the Governor’s Conference on Economic Development in September of 2017, Gov. Eric Greitens announced several initiatives to strengthen the state’s economy and help spur job creation for Missouri families including reducing red tape, improving training for Missouri’s workforce, and encouraging small businesses and entrepreneurs to start and grow.

Missouri is overhauling its current jobs training program to become more robust and responsive to businesses’ workforce and training needs. The Department of Economic Development is launching the Skilled Workforce Missouri program to ensure that businesses have access to skilled labor. Instead of requiring multiple forms, there will be one application. With a single click, businesses can find the perfect training solution that meets their needs. They can also access recruitment tools to connect with qualified candidates. Leggett and Platt and 3M are the first companies to enroll in this new program.

“We’ve had a problem in this state for far too long. Businesses need workers. Missourians need jobs. Before, if you wanted to grow jobs and needed trained employees, you had to call dozens of colleges, and schools, and other programs,” said Governor Greitens. “Now, you can contact the Department of Economic Development. They will be a one-stop shop to help businesses find skilled workers, and Missourians get the skills they need to find jobs.”

The companies that already call Missouri home are creating the majority of new jobs in our state. In fact, existing businesses assisted by the state of Missouri created 88 percent of all the new jobs for the Fiscal Year 2017 project expansions and were responsible for 71 percent of the capital investments in communities throughout the state. To improve the support for businesses operating in our state, Missouri is working across state government to cut regulations and streamline services.

The Department of Economic Development is launching a statewide customer service platform that serves as a unified approach to economic development—making it easier for businesses to access the services they need. The platform will allow local and state economic developers to better target, analyze, track and serve businesses that are considering expansion opportunities or need assistance mitigating issues.

“We need to help more Missouri businesses grow and expand in Missouri,” said Rob Dixon, Acting Director for the Missouri Department of Economic Development. “A well-organized effort between our state agency and our local partners will maintain and improve this area of job retention and growth—and show that we are serving and supporting businesses from a unified front.”

Missouri has an extensive suite of recruitment and training resources for businesses who want to expand or come to Missouri. We have a network of 12 Community Colleges, a State Technical College, 50+ technical centers, 30+ job centers, and 10 workforce regions all stand by, waiting to serve our business community.

“Unfortunately, business leaders often scratch their heads in confusion as they wade through the complex, bureaucratic maze of workforce resources.” said Dixon. “We are taking steps to make it easier for businesses to get the services they need quickly.”

Earlier this week, Gov. Greitens received the Governor’s Innovation Task Force report which included a variety of bold options to help grow entrepreneurship in Missouri.

In receiving the report, Governor Greitens said: “Missouri is ready to lead, but we’re going to have to embrace more bold ideas to build a thriving, prosperous economy. The Task Force’s option of a new Missouri innovation fund is the sort of bold thinking we need. I’m excited that my team will be working with private sector leaders and legislative leaders to make ideas like this a reality.”

This week, Gov. Greitens also announced that several companies throughout the state are growing and planning to create hundreds of new jobs for Missouri families. These companies operate in a variety of industries and provide services and products for customers around the world. Since Gov. Greitens took office, employers have created more than 26,000 new jobs in the state and Missouri is outpacing the national job growth rate. There are now almost 3,000,000 jobs in the state, more than ever before in Missouri history.

The state has the seventh largest public road and highway system and 130 public airports, including two international airports. Missouri is centrally located within 600 miles of 51 percent of U.S. households and 52 percent of U.S. manufacturers.

Missouri has a large, highly-skilled workforce that includes 2.78 million workers and 25 Certified Work Ready Communities. During 2014, 41,951 workers from 406 companies trained through the Missouri Works Training program.

With historic investments by Ford and GM, the rebirth of the automotive industry is happening in Missouri as one of the largest auto supply chains in the nation where vehicles like the Ford F-150 and the Chevy Colorado are assembled.

Missouri is the only state with two Federal Reserve Banks (Kansas City and St. Louis) and is home to the regional headquarters of several major banks including Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp, Regions Bank as well as the h headquarters for Commerce Bank, Central Bank and UMB Bank.

The state has been named one of the top 15 fastest-growing state for tech jobs four years in a row. With fast download speeds, some of the fastest growing tech companies like World Wide Tech and Square are located in Missouri. AT&T, Enterprise, Walmart, MasterCard and Edward Jones have data centers in the state as well.

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