My October Surprise

October 17th, 2008

This month I had the opportunity to hear a great presentation entitled “Minnesota and the Global Economy,” given by Tom Stinson, Economist, and Tom Gillaspy, Demographer. This event was hosted by the Minnesota High Tech Association (MHTA).

I highly recommend that you take a look at this insightful Stinson/Gillaspy presentation. Here is a link to a PDF version of their PowerPoint™ presentation from the Minnesota High Tech Association’s web site:

http://mhta.org/uploads/Stinson%20Gillaspy%20Presentation.pdf

Candidly, I was attending not because I WANTED to, but because I felt I SHOULD. Much to my surprise, the presentation was packed full of useful data. I learned where Minnesota is doing well and where we have some work to do. The discussion wrapped around PRODUCTIVITY!, a topic near and dear to all of us in manufacturing.

Some interesting “tidbits”:

  • It is not normal for a society to age...but we are. Minnesota will have
    a dramatic shift in +62 age bracket in 2008 and 2011. By 2020, we will
    have 53% more people over the age of 65 than we do today.
  • Minnesota ranks last in the US for high school graduation rates of
    African American boys.
  • Not only are we getting older, we are also losing the younger people to states with more aggressive recruiting policies.
  • The “Three R’s” for economic success – Retention, Recruitment and
    Retraining.

Enjoy!

Al Hammel

©Automation Association, Inc. 2007
Al Hammel