Educational Attainment Still an Achilles Heel
by June 24, 2013 12:00 am 67 views
There isn’t a more important factor to a business than the quality and availability of an able workforce.
Workers are a symbol for the greatest single cost of doing business, and are responsible for the innovation and improvement that can separate successful companies from failures.
In Arkansas, when it comes to human capital, overall educational achievement continues to be an Achilles heel, according to a new study.
The 2013 Manufacturing and Logistics National Report, an in-depth analysis from Ball State University’s Center for Business and Economic Research, grades all 50 states in several areas of the economy that underlie the success of manufacturing and logistics.
The specific measures include manufacturing and logistics industry health, human capital, worker benefit costs, diversification of the industries, state-level productivity and innovation, expected fiscal liability gap, tax climate and global reach.
Arkansas received C’s for the health of all those metrics save three — an A for worker benefit costs, but an F in both human capital, the measure of education and skill level, and productivity and innovation.
The human capital grade is down from a D a year ago.
Our parents won’t be happy with that.
It’s probably fair to say our state continues to suffer from the hangover from its days as an agrarian “old Southern state.” That is apparent in the human capital scores, which are always a little dispiriting to see in studies like these, but never surprising.
If there is a bright spot, it is, of course, Northwest Arkansas. The miracle of Bentonville is apparent, but not yet showing in the state’s data on productivity and innovation, as well as education.
Arkansas is a small state, so the type of oversized growth that our area has experienced will continue to have an oversized impact throughout the state.
It just takes time.