Indiana Chamber of Commerce leader Kevin Brinegar talks about organization’s latest report card for the state on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. (Screenshot of Zoom)
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana has improved on key economic development criteria in recent years, but has still fallen in national rankings, per a report card released Tuesday.
The chamber in August released a vision for Indiana in 2035, with 31 goals for the state’s education, entrepreneurship, economic growth, energy and infrastructure, health, quality of place, and workforce.
Compared to previous years, the state scored better on about 67% of the metrics — but its national rankings on those metrics improved just 41% of the time.
Outgoing Indiana Chamber of Commerce President Kevin Brinegar said, “Progress isn’t happening fast enough.”
Indiana’s strongest performance was a third-place ranking for the 11% of Hoosiers working in knowledge- and technology-intensive industries, like manufacturing or software development.
It came in fourth for the 63% of foreign-born Hoosiers with science or engineering bachelor’s degrees, as well as for the 10% of non-white workers who are self-employed.
And despite fears over high housing costs and low supplies, the state also came in fourth for its relatively low share — 24% — of housing cost-burdened households.
Indiana performed poorly on several education-related metrics: 40th for the 31% of Hoosiers with at least a bachelor’s degree, 40th for the 14% of residents with specific science or engineering bachelor’s degrees, and 41st for the 3% of bachelor’s degree holders who moved to Indiana in the last year.
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