Income Opportunities

Eileen Chmielewski, of Crown Point, said Oct. 2, 2008, was theworst day of her life. She lost her job working for an insurancecompany in Chicago. 

More than two years later, she continues to struggle making endsmeet as she is only employed part time in Northwest Indiana,netting a fraction of her former full-time pay. while she’sthankful for her job, the recession brought economic pain that wasdifficult for her and her two children to foresee.

“Who wants to be in this position? Nobody. Nobody,” Chmielewskisaid. “We do what we have to do. I never thought I’d be let go. …it’s devastating.”

Although experts say the 18-month recession ended in June 2009,it took away — and has yet to return — thousands of jobs inNorthwest Indiana. An estimated 40,000 people were out of work inthe seven-county area in August, and the 10.6 percent averageunemployment rate among the counties was more than twice as high asit was three years earlier.

While leaders debate whether the country’s economic recoverywill be in the shape of a “U” or a “V,” Northwest Indiana residentsand business leaders say J-O-B-S are the key to improvingconditions.

But to further improve fortunes, they say the region mustattempt to replace jobs lost in the recession and find growth inmature industries, encourage the pursuit of higher education andmarket the area to sources in and out of the state as a viableplace to do business.

Job recovery for Northwest Indiana will have to be seen in theregion’s largest sources of employment: steel, gaming, hospitalityand health care, said Paul McGrath, head of Purdue UniversityCalumet’s Department of Finance and Economics. He said if thoseindustries aren’t growing or show limited growth, Northwest Indianawill be slow to gain jobs.

Northwest Indiana’s job growth rate in the next three years isexpected to be less than half of the 1.7 percent annual growth ratefor the rest of the state, according to Indiana University’s Centerfor Econometric Model Research.

McGrath said job growth in the region will be proportionate tothe amount of education people are able to attain forhigher-skilled jobs.

About 13.5 percent of high school students in Northwest Indianadropped out in 2007, down from nearly 16 percent in 1996, accordingto the Northwest Indiana Workforce Board’s report last month. Thereport also said more than half of the area’s 402,000 workers couldbenefit from job placement or career development services toprovide higher skills to advance in a career or earn moremoney.

Mark Maassel, president and CEO of the Northwest Indiana Forum,said educators are starting to understand that to close theeducational attainment gap, they need to be “creating the relevanceof education and telling (students), ‘What you’re learning now willbe important to the workplace.’”

Opportunities abound

Business leaders in Northwest Indiana’s seven-county area sayeconomic improvement may come in the form of a ship, train ortruck.

Maassel said the region needs to better promote and leverage itscentralized location to provide significant economic opportunitiesas the recovery takes hold. the Port of Indiana Burns Harboraccepts and has the capacity to handle international waterbornecargo on Lake Michigan’s south shore and it is connected to thewest, east and southern regions of the country via highways andrail lines. in addition to cargo, the region can be a hub for datacenters and information transmission across the country.

Robert Schaefer, president of consulting firm Community Dynamicsin Michigan City, said Gary/Chicago International Airport alsocould be an economic development centerpiece for the area, but thatit “needs to come of age.”

“We need to take advantage of some of the strengths we have andhow we diversify,” Maassel said.

However, a recovery also may need to take place in consumerwealth and business and consumer confidence before regionalbusiness conditions improve, Maassel said.

A community effort

Heather Ennis, executive director of the Chesterton/DunelandChamber of Commerce, said the chamber believes economic developmentand local employment can be helped along through a “closer-to-home”solution. in August, the chamber launched its “10-10 Challenge,”which encourages area shoppers in the area through 2011 to spend$10 or more at 10 different Chamber member establishments in onemonth.

“For everyone, trying to keep dollars in the community andencouraging strong business is an important thing when you’rethinking about pulling yourself through the bootstraps of therecovery,” Ennis said. “The recession hangover is longer than therecession was.”

With a significant portion of the region being within an hour’sdriving distance of the city of Chicago, many people in businessconsider Northwest Indiana to be a part of the Chicago metropolitanarea. Ennis said municipalities have improved their ability tomarket themselves to entities across the border, but they need tounderstand what opportunities are best suited for them.

“We are looking more and more attractive to businesses overthere,” Ennis said. “We have to keep being diligent and beingorganized.”

Indiana Secretary of Commerce Mitch Roob said the region can domore to market itself better to Illinois businesses, especiallywith the Illinois’ difficult fiscal situation and higher taxenvironment.

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Written by Tim on October 26, 2010 under Work From Home Jobs.

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