NEWSLETTER ARTICLES
January 1, 2012It was a good year
The year 1939 is considered by movie historians to be the single greatest year for Hollywood as many of the most memorable films ever placed on celluloid were released. Movies such as the Wizard of Oz, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Gone with the Wind, Dark Victory, Wuthering Heights and the Hunchback of Notre Dame were all released in the same year; talk about tough picks for Oscar nominations.
Though not quite the stellar performance or movie magic of 1939, the year 2011 for Southwest Indiana was nonetheless a very solid one in which companies like SS&C Technologies, North American Lighting, Speedway/Afco and Global Blade Technology announced new significant projects for our region. Even as Wall Street and Washington struggled with finding solutions to the global morass, Southwest Indiana has been quietly re-investing in its future and the future gets brighter every day.
For those who are out of work the prospects might be dimmer but companies throughout Southwest Indiana are continuing to hire, looking to match the right worker skills to their specific needs. In fact, several recently published articles attribute the higher unemployment rate as much to the skills gap as to the lack of employment opportunities. Just this week, we heard from a local company ready to hire 15 workers with another ready to hire 50 workers; the real question is does our workforce have the skills required to fill those positions?
What 2012 will bring is still unknown but if the level of economic activity, which has dramatically picked-up over the past few months, is any indication then it should be a better year for Southwest Indiana. For those who believe in the Mayan calendar, it really doesn’t matter what occurs – just have fun.
