DED DIRECTOR OPTIMISTIC ABOUT REGION

Good things are going in Cape Girardeau County and Southeast Missouri, the director of the Missouri Department of Economic Development told a group at the First Friday Coffee Friday.

Good things also are going on in Missouri."

Director Joseph L. Driskill, who he grew up in the Doniphan area, likes to talk about economics in the state these days.

"We're living in prosperous times," he said. "Missouri is on the move."

Driskill attributes the strong economy to a number of things.

"We're a well-managed state," he said. "Missouri government is managed like a business."

Driskill said the department's economic plan developed six years ago is paying big results.

"We're one of only six states to have three Triple-A bond ratings," he said.

The only problem at present is a shortage of skilled workers, and Driskill said, "with all the training programs we have intact, we're working on that."

Over the past six years, economic expansions and new businesses have added more than 350,000 jobs. In the last year alone, more than 12,500 jobs have been added, to go along with $1.5 billion in new investments.

Average worker income is the 11th best in the nation, he said.

The Cape Girardeau-Jackson area has been a player in the state's growth.

The Procter & Gamble expansion, which is nearing completion, is one of the state's largest in more than a decade, he said. Other notable expansions include Biokyowa Inc., which is expanding its manufacturing facility for farm supplements and is building a new plant for manufacture of human food supplements.

"All this is sort of a ~success-breeds-success story," said Driskill.

"Expansions in manufacturing, life sciences and communications bring in other new business and industry," he said. "It also brings in new highway projects."

Times are good, and when times are good, "it gives us an opportunity to prepare for when times may not be so good," Driskill said.

Attracting new companies is good, he said, but it's not enough.

"We need economic assets, community development, investments in infrastructure, and job training," Driskill said.

Of DED's mew workforce department, Driskill explained that it was a revamping of the former Job Service Department and includes both the job service and job training programs.

The new department will stress the training skills needed in the new century.

By 2020, technology will double every 73 days. Driskill said, "That means some textbooks will be outdated by the time they go to the printers."

Tourism is important, he said. "Tourism means more visitors to a community, and we're excited about the river campus here," said Driskill. "We'll be considering more financing for that project."

Tourism has provided more than $18 billion a year to the state's economy, generating more than $4 billion in tax revenue and providing more than 300,000 jobs.