What's the hot ticket in economic development?  Any consultant can tell you. Health care-related industries, or life sciences, are at the top of many people's lists. Nanotechnology is another up-and-coming industry.  And the resurgence in high tech stocks in recent months has reminded us all that the potential for rapid growth in this hard-hit area is still very large.

Those are only a few of the dozen or so new clusters of industries that are expected to lead the economic parade in the coming years. Indiana is not alone in coveting the job growth potential of these new, and for some of us, unfamiliar, development opportunities. Their very newness would seem, at first blush, to level the playing field for all states and regions, like ours, who are looking for a new economic spark.

But what resources and attributes do we bring to the table when we bid against others for a piece of the action?  In geography, infrastructure, and even business climate, our state's advantages and disadvantages are fairly well understood.  But when it comes to what is perhaps the single most important factor influencing the course of our economic development -- the labor force -- too many of us are unaware of where we stand.

There was once a time when the image ofIndiana , if we can be said to have any image at all, was what might be called, typically American.  The selection of Muncie as the site of the famous Middletown sociological studies carried out in the 1920's underscored that notion.  But the shoe doesn't fit anymore, at least as far as the labor force is concerned.

Outside of Indianapolis , we have retained an emphasis on production-related activities in our state that was shed by the rest of the country years ago.  That includes even states like Illinois and Michigan , in our own back yard.

The data from the 2000 Census reveal this disparity in stark terms.  The Census classifies all workers into eight major occupational categories.  Two of those -- production, and transportation and material moving -- account for more than 1 out of every 4 jobs in 47 of our state's 92 counties. None of those counties are in central Indiana.

Contrast that with Michigan , home of the domestic automobile industry.  Only 10 ofMichigan 's 83 counties can match the concentration of production-related jobs found in half ofIndiana 's counties.  And four of those lie just to the north of our state's northern border.  Illinois has fourteen production-oriented counties among its 102 counties.

In the Midwest , only Ohio comes anywhere close to matching the Indiana labor force in its concentration in production, with about a third of its counties matching our level. Upper Midwest states like Minnesota can count their production-oriented counties on one hand.

Central Indiana is a notable exception.  The labor force in the counties surroundingIndianapolis sharply differs from the rest of the state, and more closely resembles other urban areas nationwide.  Professional, financial, and service-related occupations dominate the Indianapolis labor pool, just as those jobs have crowded out traditional blue collar jobs even in our Midwest neighbors.

Recruiting knowledge-oriented, technology-intensive companies to areas of the state with a production-oriented labor force is quite a challenge.  But unless we want to remain on the side of the road when the economy moves forward, it’s something that we have to make happen.