Predictability. Investments. Regionalism. Land use. Each finding presented at the Bloomington Economic Development Corp.’s 2016 State of the Bloomington Regional Economy luncheon was an analysis of what forces have been — and could be — at work in southwest central Indiana’s economy.
In what may have been the harshest news one can receive at a meeting called to compare the region’s economy with similar regions, many of the business leaders presenting at the convention center Wednesday indicated that Monroe County and its neighboring communities are below where they ought to be. But, for almost every detail foreshadowing a negative economic outlook, there was a plan of action in the works and a potential opportunity identified.
“If somebody asked me the state of the economy,” said Lynn Coyne, president of the BEDC, “I would say it’s calm, like in the Bermuda Triangle.”
According to data collected by the South Central Indiana Small Business Development Center and presented by regional director Troy Phelps, the 15,764 small businesses in Monroe County and the surrounding nine counties the center serves (Brown, Crawford, Daviess, Dubois, Greene, Lawrence, Martin, Orange and Washington) were ranked second in the state for capital infusion and business startups. The region was just $100,000 shy of coming in first, according to Phelps. Monroe County’s capital infusion of $19.9 million and 26 startups made up a large portion of the region’s total of $22,375,000 and 33 startups.
Dana Palazzo, vice president of the BEDC, noted that more than 95 jobs were created in the city’s technology sector in 2015.
“It’s very clear. We’re going to have to create our jobs for the future,” said Coyne. “If you’re going to succeed, you have to grow your jobs.”
The current numbers are a potential misdirection, though, he said, as Monroe County continues to be an anomaly in a typical economic system. It’s expected that Indiana University is a major economic contributor, with Coyne estimating two out of every three people in the city are in some way economically associated with the university, but a 56,000-person economic driver composed of university employees and students with income sources other than full-time work won’t sustain much more than a service industry-based economy.
Additionally, Monroe County’s per capita income has decreased by 1.4 percent from 2008 to 2013, and the gross domestic product for Monroe and Owen counties is down 1.2 percent from 2009 to 2014. GDP is the value of all finished goods and services produced within a specific time period.
Other college towns are growing, according to Coyne. Lafayette has seen a 2.5 percent GDP increase, and Muncie has seen a 1.1 percent rise. There’s still a 1,000 job deficit from the pre-”great recession” economy, and jobs are piling up at the bottom of the wage sector rather than in the higher end.