Jobs returning to rural Indiana, but state lacks enough skilled workers to fill openings

Jobs are steadily returning to rural Indiana, but there won't be enough skilled workers to fill the positions, says a study by the Rural Urban Entrepreneurship Development Institute at Indiana State University. The main reason is that qualified workers migrated to areas where jobs were available or switched career paths.

Indiana, which has a larger share of manufacturing jobs than any other state, lost 25 percent of its total manufacturing jobs during the Great Recession, writes Dave Taylor for Indiana State. "The total number of jobs in Indiana's 72 predominantly rural counties is expected to return to pre-recession levels by the end of 2015 and then steadily increase by 10,000 per year during the next decade. But the study says adults in their prime working years are expected to continue to leave rural counties, reducing the size of a talented and experienced labor force."

Robert Guell, professor of economics at Indiana State, said, "There is likely to be somewhat of a mismatch between the skill levels of the employees and the jobs that are available. A mismatch occurs when the ability of the workers who are available to do the work is different than the work that is available."

Taylor writes, "Many low-skilled jobs that had sustained Indiana for years have disappeared and are not expected to return, the report said, and workers especially hard hit by the bursting of the housing bubble—in such fields as construction, finance and real estate—may need to adjust their career aspirations." (Read more)