Perry Central...Meeting the Demands of Our Regional Economy

By: Phil Zellers

Over the past several months I have had the opportunity to learn a little bit more about the job market and regional economy in Perry County.  It has been interesting looking into the numbers of our regional economy and putting together what that means for our students.  It started with a Perry County Development Corporation meeting I was able to attend last fall and has continued through the work of our Work Ethic Certification.

At the PCDC meeting, the Purdue Center for Regional Development gave some information about our regional economy, which includes our surrounding counties.  Here are some of the numbers that came from that meeting.  In Perry County, there are 814 establishments (businesses).  Of those 814 businesses, 703 are Stage 1, meaning they have 2-9 employees.  100 of those businesses are Stage 2, meaning they have 10-99 employees.  There are 11 Stage 3 businesses that have 100-499 employees.  The Stage 3 businesses make up 37.4% of our county's total sales, Stage 2 at 35.5%, and Stage 1 at 27.1%.  

Our biggest industry in the region is manufacturing, accounting for about 23% of our total jobs.  Within manufacturing, some of our largest professions include transportation, fabricated metal production, machinery, and computers and electronics.  Our other major industries include forest and wood products, and agriculture.  Some of our emerging industries are business and financial services, arts and entertainment, and IT and telecommunications.  Other staples of our regional economy include defense and security, biomedical and biotech, and energy production.

So, what does all of this mean?  It reaffirms what we already knew.  Our students are going to be facing a changing and more skilled job market and that Perry County has a real need for skilled workers.  I think it is important as educators to understand our regional economy and job market so we can better prepare our students to face the world after high school.  Almost all of the regional industries listed above require more than a high school diploma.  Technical knowledge, certifications, and degrees are becoming more and more important for our students to be able to compete in the regional job market.  Our regional economy desperately needs employees with these skills.

Perry County has a relatively low unemployment rate.  The problem is that local employers sometimes have a difficult time finding these skilled workers.  Good jobs are going unfilled or filled by people outside our region.  To maintain the businesses we already have and to attract new businesses, we have to help ensure our students can help meet these demands.  We have to work together with our local businesses to make sure we know what they are looking for in employees.

I am proud to be a part of Perry Central because I feel like we are leading the way in preparing our students to meet these needs.  We have a number of Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways and courses for students to pursue, including engineering, manufacturing, computer science, agriculture, and biomedical fields.  Along with these pathways, we offer several dual credit courses as well as 6 different industry certifications.

Perry Central has cutting edge technology to teach students electrical circuits, hydraulic and pneumatic systems, simple machines, CNC routing, computer programming, robotics, 3D printing and more.  We have a large number of students participating in internships and getting real world work experiences through them.  We are also in the first year of offering a Work Ethic Certification for juniors and seniors.  This certification allows students to demonstrate that they are dependable, take initiative, are involved, and possess other skills employers have said they need in their employees.  This week our school will be hosting and hearing the expertise of Dr. Stone, Director of the National Research Center for Career and Technical Education.

Perry Central is adapting and taking the steps to make sure our students are as prepared as they can be, as they move forward after high school.  They are learning how the knowledge and skills they learn in the classroom are applied to real world situations and the workplace.  As a lifetime resident of Perry County and a father of three little Commodores, I am glad we are taking these essential steps.  I am proud to be a Commodore!