In her latest column, Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel says while there is data suggesting that Louisiana’s trend of negative net migration seen in recent decades may have started to reverse itself over the past couple of years, the bottom line is the state has still lost a lot of people.
In every decade since the 1980s, Louisiana has lost more people than it has gained—more than 600,000 between 1980 and 2010—Riegel notes. But with the state anticipating a huge industrial boom in the coming decade, Louisiana is now hoping some of those expats will feel confident enough about the state’s economy and ability to provide a decent, affordable quality of life, that they will want to come back.
Which is where the “Come Home, Louisiana” postcard campaign comes in. Newspaper readers may have noticed the postcards in ads that began appearing in recent weeks. They are an element of a nationwide, multimedia campaign sponsored by Louisiana Economic Development, which is trying to encourage former Louisiana residents to explore the new employment opportunities here and, it is hoped, return home to take advantage of them.
“The postcards are kitschy and colorful, with big bubble letters on the front saying, ‘Wish you lived here.’ A fill-in-the-blank form on the back is designed for locals to complete and send to far-flung relatives and friends, who may not realize Louisiana has a booming economy and—for the first time in decades—an abundance of jobs,” writes Riegel.
The campaign is directly tied to LED’s new free website, LouisianaJobConnection.com, which matches the skills of job seekers with the best available Louisiana jobs. Already, thousands of jobs are available on the site. Thousands more will be posted in the coming months.
“If it all sounds a bit gimmicky, it is,” writes Riegel. “But it’s not a bad idea, and it’s critically important the state get the word out that it needs qualified professionals and trained workers in a variety of fields, particularly engineering and computer science. If we don’t have enough workers to fill those tens of thousands of jobs, companies will stop investing and expanding here and the economic boom will stall out.” Read the full column. Send your comments to editors@businessreport.com.
