Sunday, April 25, 2004
Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development's Chief Economist, Terry Ludeman made a presentation last week to members of the Oneida County Economic Development Corporation.
His message was sobering: Wisconsin faces a major challenge in filling the jobs of people set to retire over the next ten years. (His comments are important, because his analysis, I suspect, applies to more states than Wisconsin.)
"We are faced with a tremendous number of people in the State of Wisconsin turning retirement age; approximately 40,000 people per year are turning age 65, and by 2010 that figure will reach 50,000.
"The question is, 'Where do we find 40,000 or 50,000 people per year to replace those who are leaving the labor market?'"
He goes on..."We have to figure out a way to hold on to our young, talented population. We cannot afford to continue to send them to college and turn around and give them a ticket to go somewhere else in the United States. We need to keep those young people in the communities they were raised in, or else our chance of making an economic success in small communities is nil."
Read more of Ludeman's analysis. Go.
posted by Ed Morrison |
links
Some Background on EDPro Weblog
The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it.
One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information.
If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site:
Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber:
Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development
As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking.
Background on Ed Morrison
Download some background information on me here.
The retirement wave in Wisconsin
