INDIANAPOLIS - The state's efforts in 2007 to recruit companies to locate in Indiana or expand their existing operations here has resulted in commitments to create 22,627 new jobs in Indiana, officials announced today.
That total number of jobs for which the state successfully competed now exceeds by 632 the previous year's total new-job commitments of 21,995.
The totals that Gov. Mitch Daniels announced today represent the jobs that the Indiana Economic Development Corp. was involved in recruiting to the state. Many of the 158 companies that committed in 2007 to create the 22,267 new jobs have already begun hiring, and all plan meet their commitments to hire by 2012, the IEDC said.
The latest to join that list was unveiled today. Software developer LHP Inc. announced it will expand its operations in Columbus, Ind., by 320 jobs by 2011. LHP, a minority-owned business that develops software and hardware for the military and the automotive and medical industries, is investing $1 million to expand its Columbus facility that currently employs 130.
On Thursday, OFS Brands announced that it would expand its funiture-manufacturing operation in Huntingburg, Ind. by 300 positions by 2012, an investment of $81 million.
As incentives, the state offered OFS Brands Holdings Inc. up to $1.9 million in tax credits and up to $300,000 in training grants based on the company's expansion plans, and will provide Huntingburg with a $500,000 grant to defray infrastructure costs.
Similar state incentives were extended to LHP Inc.: up to $2.1 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $50,000 in training grants. Columbus city officials offered property-tax abatement.
The IEDC offered companies about $196 million in tax breaks and other incentives to locate or expand operations in Indiana, said Nate Feltman, the corporation's director.
According to the IEDC, the breakdown of the promised new jobs is as follows:
-Information technology: 7,682
-Automotive manufacturing: 3,402
-Other manufacturing: 3,191
-Life sciences: 2,990
-Transportation and logistics: 2,008
-Food and agriculture: 1,823
-Steel manufacturing: 580
-Insurance, finance and other services: 472
-Biofuels and energy: 283
-Motorsports: 196.
The biggest single jobs announcement that the state helped negotiate in 2007 was the new Medco Health Solutions pharmaceutical facility in Whitestown, Ind., which will bring 1,306 jobs to that central Indiana community.
Locally, the announcement of the new Toyota Boshoku America Inc. auto-components plant is expected to bring 230 jobs to Princeton, Ind.
Announced last year, the new AT&T call center on Vogel Road in Evansville opened in April with 570 expected jobs. Since then, however, AT&T has said the center now employs at least 600 and it's possible that more positions would be added.
The newly-created jobs for which the state was involved in negotiating do not reflect total job growth or loss. According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures cited by the governor's office, Indiana had a net increase of 46,600 jobs created from January 2005, when Daniels was sworn in, to November 2007.
The bureau's employment survey showed a net increase of 52,555 more people employed in Indiana during that same period, including the self-employed, business owners and farm workers. Indiana's unemployment rate of 4.7 percent is currently the lowest in the Midwest, according to bureau statistics.