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Tennessee

In Tennessee, the theory seems to be if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And with 1999 totaling out at a record $6 billion in private capital investment and 45,000 new jobs, it definitely ain't broke. That many new jobs coming on line in one year is proof that the state not only has an available labor pool, but with announcements coming from such companies as Dell Computer and Hewlett-Packard (HP), it also says that Tennessee has a skilled labor force.

"We're maintaining the programs that we've already got, and those are very good," says Bill Baxter, commissioner of the Tennessee Dept. of Economic and Community Development. "We got a ranking of No. 6 for our commitment to training and that comes from two programs that we have -- the Industrial Training Service and the Tennessee Job Skills Fund."

The Industrial Training Services (ITS), the training program within the Dept. of Economic and Community Development, administers the Tennessee Job Skills program, a work-force incentive program that focuses on enhancing employment opportunities and is designed to meet the needs of new and existing industry through training. Since the 1998 adoption of Job Skills, Tennessee has had record-breaking capital investment years with 1998's $5 billion year, which was the all-time high until 1999's gangbuster investment year.

Tennessee plans to bring more workers to the many positions now available in the state with the 1999 unanimous approval of the Dept. of Work Force Development. This department is charged with creating career centers within communities so people can apply for unemployment while at the same time look for a job. The department and the career centers will profile workers' skills and match them up with existing jobs, or they will advise workers on the skills that are needed to obtain the available jobs.

With the launch of the Manufacturing for the New Millennium initiative last fall, the state is also preaching the word to high school students to continue their education at least to the technical school level. "The message we're sending to the high school kids is that they need a solid high school diploma plus two years of technical education beyond high school," says Baxter. "About 20 percent of the jobs in our state require a four-year degree, but 80 percent do not. That 80 percent, however, requires more than a high school diploma; students need grades 13 and 14. It can be an associate degree, a certificate program, but they need two more years to get the kind of technical skills that are needed for those good, high-paying jobs in manufacturing."

Tennessee is strong in manufacturing, with approximately 20 percent of all Tennessee jobs in manufacturing, according to Baxter. And many manufacturers are taking advantage of the state's labor pool, including several in the computer business. Dell has already located a major operation in Nashville, and earlier this year HP joined Tennessee's computer manufacturing ranks as well. The Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer powerhouse plans to relocate all of its manufacturing, distribution and processing activities from the West Coast to LaVergne. HP will bring 1,500 new jobs to the state.

Tennessee's success in quickly training workers for the Dell plant surely played a role in HP's decision. "Dell went into a county where the unemployment rate is 2.7 percent," reports Baxter. "So at first blush, you'd think, 'How in the world are you going to find enough employees?' They needed 1,000 employees, and they hired 1,000 in 60 days. That happened because of a partnership with the state of Tennessee, which aggressively went forward with Job Skills money. We got together with the technical schools in the area and put the curriculum together. We set that up and put people through the training process. There is no way that Dell could have ramped up that quickly without the aggressive cooperation of the state and technical schools.