The recent release of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education’s annual College Readiness Report presented a sobering picture with just 53% of Indiana high school graduates from the class of 2020 pursuing some form of education beyond high school. That represents the sharpest one-year decline (six percentage points) in Indiana’s college-going rate and the lowest postsecondary participation level in recent history.
While the pandemic no doubt exacerbated the decline, Indiana’s negative trendline in college-going pre-dated COVID-19 with a 12-point drop in the past five years. There are certainly a wide range of issues driving these numbers, including concerns about college affordability and the value proposition of higher education to a hot labor market that has forced employers who are increasingly desperate for workers to settle for lower-skilled talent.
But in a state that already ranks 37th nationally in education attainment with less than half of working-age Hoosiers holding a credential beyond a high school diploma, maintaining Indiana’s economic competitiveness and ensuring upward mobility for Hoosiers requires bold and decisive action. While Indiana – with the Chamber’s strong urging and efforts – has worked to create a business climate that is the envy of many states, that advantage is largely offset by a deficit of highly-skilled workers in an increasingly talent-driven economy.
Larry Gigerich, an Indiana Chamber board member and executive managing director of the site selection firm Ginovus, noted during a recent meeting of the Chamber’s education/workforce development policy committee that companies today are looking closely at state- and metro-area education levels when deciding where to relocate or expand their businesses. We’ve seen this reality play out time and again in recent years, whether it be the Intel semi-conductor plant that went to Ohio (with its larger population and higher education attainment level), the new Amazon headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee (with its large influx of college-educated workers) and even Indiana’s own Eli Lilly, which is investing $1 billion in a new manufacturing facility in North Carolina (a decision largely based on the manufacturing technology experience of the state’s local labor force). Any one or all of these expansions could have gone Indiana’s way if we had a larger pipeline of highly educated and skilled talent.
In recognition of these challenges and opportunities, the Chamber is preparing a bold workforce agenda for the upcoming 2023 legislative session with strategic policy reforms and investments aimed at increasing Indiana’s postsecondary attainment rate and better retaining Hoosier college graduates among other actions.
Resource: Jason Bearce at (317) 264-6880 or email: jbearce@indianachamber.com
