Business Facilities - August 2008 - (Page 39)

prehensive, more “user-friendly” workforce development system, an integrated state agencies’ service program, customized business services, and training services for workers. With the state’s unemployment rate hovering around 4 percent and an aging workforce, these initiatives will help provide key training to help fill the 100 jobs that are currently available across the state. Louisiana’s efforts to overhaul its workforce development system mirror that of a national trend. Workers must be trained to help fill high tech jobs that are becoming available in the evolving knowledge-based U.S. economy. At an annual Workforce Innovations Conference in New Orleans earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao said the U.S. economy will continue to drift further away from traditional labor sources to higher skilled labor in the next decade, as more than half of the nation’s employment growth—an estimated 15.6 million new jobs— opens up in engineering, health care and professional occupations. According to Chao, high-growth industries, such as nanotechnology, geospatial technology and life sciences, will join the need for an estimated 1 million engineers and nearly 3 million health-care workers, which people can’t access with a high school education alone. According to Stephen Moret, Secretary of the Department of Economic Development, Louisiana’s economic development efforts are paying off. Louisiana is already in the running for about a dozen projects right now that will provide over 1,500 new direct jobs and over $400 million in capital investment. Attracted to a more competitive business climate, Bercen Inc., a chemical company that provides products, services and innovation to the paper industry, has decided to relocate its headquarters and laboraA S P E C I A L A D V E RT I S I N G S E C T I O N O F B U S I N E S S FA C I L I T I E S tories to Livingston Parish, Louisiana. The company plans to expand its local manufacturing operation for a total capital investment of $5 million, along with adding 20 new jobs with average annual salaries of $90,000 (plus benefits) to the state. Bercen is the second company to relocate their headquarters to Louisiana in just a matter of months. Bercen Inc. relocated to Louisiana due to several factors, including its proximity to Louisiana State University and Southeastern Louisiana University; lower taxes; a robust petrochemical industry; proximity to raw materials and cus- Think big. Move beyond. #2308 at www.BusinessFacilities.com 39 http://www.churchillpark.org http://www.churchillpark.org http://www.BusinessFacilities.com

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Business Facilities - August 2008 Contents First Word Snapshots Corporate Moves: Florida Economic Development 2.0 Everything's Big in Texas Aerospace Sites: Poised for Takeoff The Nebraska Advantage Metro Spotlight: Cullman, Alabama Special Focus: Louisiana Industry Focus: Financial Centers Advertiser Index Inside LiveXChange

Business Facilities - August 2008

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