Missouri economic development director: Fostering skilled workforce essential

Calling local chambers of commerce the “front line of our [state] economy,” Missouri Department of Economic Development director Rob Dixon outlined the ways in which state government is seeking to help communities’ business-development efforts during the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee on Friday morning at Isle Casino Cape Girardeau.

He said his work has been focused on two goals since Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens appointed him roughly three months ago: helping existing businesses and facilitating workforce development.

The vast majority of hiring, he said, comes from existing businesses, and their success is crucial to maintaining employment. Unemployment in Missouri, he said, sits around 4 percent.

“That’s lower than the [national] average, which is a good thing,” he said. “Folks are working.”

He said nearly 3 million workers contribute to Missouri’s roughly $3 billion economy.

To preserve and improve those statistics, developing a skilled workforce, he said, “is the key driver of our economy today.”

“We have to anticipate, what do we have 10 years down the line? Twenty-five years down the line?” he said. “And how do we orient ourselves to be prepared for jobs which, quite frankly, haven’t been invented yet?”

As a state, Dixon said Missouri faces low workforce productivity levels, which may be addressed through training.

He said his department is guided by three broad principles: citizenship, stewardship and personal responsibility.

“We’re citizens first,” he said. “So many times, government organizes itself around government.”

His goal, he said, is to establish more streamlined, user-friendly access points for citizens engaged in the state economy.

In terms of stewardship, he said his goal is to eliminate needless or dated regulation or “red tape.”

“These aren’t our resources,” he said, referring to things such as state coffers. “They’re yours.”

The third commitment, to personal responsibility, Dixon said, comes from his being a Missouri native. The only times he lived outside the state, he said, were for his deployments during his time in the United States Marine Corps.

“This is my Missouri,” he said. “This is where we want our children to live. [The state] may have problems, but no one’s going to fix them for us.”

Dixon said he gained a familiarity with the Cape Girardeau area through his father, Bob Dixon, who previously was active in the Cape Girardeau business community while serving as Ameren’s SEMO Division director.

The younger Dixon praised the efforts of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce.

“You know the pulse of what’s going on,” he said, later adding that, “We’re here to be your partner in this. We can’t do it without you.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627

Pertinent address:

Isle Casino Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau, Mo.