Editor’s note: Stephen Moret is wrapping up his last week as secretary of Louisiana Economic Development, a position he’s held since 2008. In an exclusive, three-column series for Daily Report, Moret reflects on his tenure at LED (Part 1); makes the case for robust, diversified economic growth to be Louisiana’s top goal (Part 2); and offers a roadmap for how to accomplish that goal (Part 3).
About a year ago, I visited IBM’s temporary office space in Baton Rouge. In the course of visiting with the many recent college graduates then working there, two of them shared that they had graduated from college in Texas but found their best job opportunities with IBM in Baton Rouge. That was a very special moment for me. In order to create thousands more such stories, we need to cultivate a state economy that regularly grows faster than the South and U.S.
Positioning Louisiana to add good jobs faster than the South and U.S. on a sustained basis won’t just happen on its own—at least not yet. To fully catch up with states that began working diligently to diversify and grow their economies decades earlier than Louisiana, we need what noted economist Enrico Moretti calls a “big push,” with the state embracing economic growth as its top goal and implementing a range of coordinated initiatives to support that goal.
If you think that an intentional state focus on economic growth cannot change the trajectory of our state, consider the case of Singapore (but without the authoritarian angle), which is about the size of Louisiana. Through an intentional government leadership focus on economic transformation, Singapore moved from the third world to leading the first world in a generation. With all of its natural and human assets, Louisiana is even better positioned to transform itself through an unrelenting focus on economic growth.
As citizens, we must embrace economic development and job growth as our top local, regional and state priority. Specifically, we must take action across four key focus areas.
The first is talent development. The single most important driver of our state’s future economic success will be our ability to build a world-class, 21st-century workforce.
- We must provide a more stable base of funding to support the important work of Louisiana’s higher education institutions, while also making strategic investments in higher education programs such as computer science, engineering, and manufacturing operations in order to produce the skilled graduates we need to drive our job growth.
- Talent can’t just be cultivated at the postsecondary level; we also need to focus on the K-12 level. K-12 leaders must provide more attractive public education options, from supporting more high-quality charter schools to providing more spots in high-performing magnet schools.
- At the state level, we must continue to invest in LED FastStart to ensure that it remains the best-ranked workforce development program in the nation.
The second key focus area is regional development—we need to prepare each of Louisiana’s eight regions to maximize its unique potential.
- We must identify and cultivate more development-ready sites. It might surprise you to learn that the most common reason we lose a manufacturing project is that we now have more companies interested in investing here than we have sites available quickly enough to meet their needs.
- We also must aggressively cultivate our top regional economic assets. We have unique infrastructure assets across our state that, with the right leadership and targeted investment, could each create thousands of new jobs. Examples include England Airpark in Alexandria, Chennault in Lake Charles, Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, and the National Cyber Research Park in Bossier. Local government leaders in Baton Rouge should stop blocking state efforts to cultivate a major airline hub in New Orleans, which would support national corporate headquarters in both Baton Rouge and the Crescent City.
- Local leaders across our state must encourage smart community planning that helps create places in which people want to live. That means more mixed-use, walkable developments and a greater focus on quality-of-life amenities. Quality of place is becoming a common site-selection factor.
The third key focus area is industry development—we need to cultivate a diverse, growth-oriented economic base in every region of Louisiana.
- Our existing business and industry is the foundation of our economy. We must prioritize its growth and development, including not just our big economic-driver companies but also small businesses and entrepreneurs.
- We must continue to attract new growth industries to our state to diversify our economy and accelerate our growth—industries such as software development, aerospace, automotive, and water management.
- In an increasingly global economy, we must work aggressively to implement our new master plan for international commerce, as the implementation of that plan alone could yield 15,000 jobs a year through increased trade and foreign direct investment.
- We also need to shift the way we talk about ourselves as a state. In addition to telling the world about our great food and festivals, we need to more aggressively promote our attractiveness as a great place for entrepreneurs and business investment. We have a great story to tell—we need to get it out there.
The fourth key focus area is policy development. We need to adopt thoughtful, economically competitive public policies in Louisiana to create fertile ground for economic growth.
- We need to adopt comprehensive tax reform, including the elimination of many tax exemptions, which would enable our citizens and businesses to benefit from lower tax rates as well as a simpler, more stable tax structure that will grow as our economy grows.
- While some of the economic development exemptions are due for changes, we must recognize that collectively they represent only about 5% of the value of all state tax exemptions. In fact, less than 2% of state tax exemptions have been associated with the hundreds of economic development announcements made over the last seven years. Personal tax exemptions represent nearly half of the value of all state tax exemptions. We need a comprehensive approach that looks at the whole picture.
- As we work to improve the public policy environment in Louisiana, we also need to embrace thoughtful financing solutions for public infrastructure, including roads, bridges and ports, to provide a stronger foundation for future economic growth as well as improved quality of life.
- Finally, we need to continue efforts to evaluate our legal and regulatory environment to identify ways to improve and sustain Louisiana’s economic competitiveness.
Talent development, regional development, industry development, and policy development: these are the four critical drivers. This is the hard work it’s going to take to sustain a transformation of our state’s economy.
This is about so much more than commerce and industry. It’s about becoming a state where opportunity is as abundant as our natural resources, and our economy is as vibrant as our culture. It’s about empowering individuals to pursue their own unique idea of the American Dream right here in Louisiana.
For as long as I’ve lived here, I’ve encountered people who sincerely believe that our state’s destiny has already been written. But it’s just not true.
Let’s embrace a sense of possibility for our state. Let’s have conviction that sustained economic growth is a transformational goal worth pursuing—and one we can achieve.
For decades, I have had a dream for our state that I hoped was possible—a dream for Louisiana to become a place of abundant economic opportunity. Today I don’t just hope it is possible—I know it’s achievable.
With smart choices, thoughtful leadership and deliberate actions, we can change our destiny. We can shape our future. We can create the state of our dreams.
