People and Places: The Nature and Location of Talent in Indiana

There exists a mix of statistics on the economic well-being of Indiana – some positive and some troubling -- that prompted us to examine the state of education, talent and jobs in Indiana. Our focus was guided by two... [ view full abstract ]

There exists a mix of statistics on the economic well-being of Indiana – some positive and some troubling -- that prompted us to examine the state of education, talent and jobs in Indiana. Our focus was guided by two complementary strands of research.  The first, advanced by a number of economic theorists over the years, suggest that investments made by individuals in their education and skills development can have profound impacts on their productivity and job-related earnings over their life course. A second line of research notes that economic opportunities available to individuals are not solely the result of their human capital attributes, but also on the quality of jobs that exist in the local labor market. As such, the ability of workers to realize economic gains is a consequence of the match (or mismatch) between their education/skills and the quality of jobs existing in their communities or counties. Thus, where you live matters a good bit. This paper explores how the supply and demand for human capital might vary across Indiana’s metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Among the core questions the paper examines are as follows: (1) What is the state of Indiana’s human capital assets? Is the proportion of adults with post-secondary degrees increasing over time?  Are the Indiana figures on par with national trends? (2) Are metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas achieving comparable success in expanding their pool of educated adults? (3) What returns are working Hoosiers realizing in terms of employment and earnings? (4) Are knowledge and STEM-based jobs increasing in Indiana and across the state’s metro and nonmetro landscape? And (5) How competitive are metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas when it comes to the presence and strength of technology and production-oriented occupational clusters? Our findings reveal that the ability of the state to achieve social and economic progress over the long-term will rest, in part, on its capacity to produce, retain and attract talent. Nevertheless, ramping up its supply of educated and skilled workers will not be enough. Of equal importance will be the need to accelerate the number of quality jobs that can help stem the outflow of talent to the other parts of the U.S. and beyond. Specific program and policy recommendations are offered in light of our findings.