In the hunt to bring in new jobs while playing catch-up with the rest of the South, Louisiana is looking at some economic sectors — both old and new — not normally associated with the state's traditional image.
The head of Louisiana's economic development effort, Stephen Moret, is charting a 20-year time frame. Although two decades seems like a long time, he says that by staying with the program, Louisiana could see hundreds of thousands more new jobs than currently expected — along with a population that will grow strongly, rather than stay near the point of stagnation.
For example, projections indicate that Louisiana will add 290,000 jobs over the next two decades at its current growth rate. By reaching the Southern rate, that could be boosted to 690,000, Moret said last week to the Baton Rouge Rotary Club.
But the question is how to do that, a goal that the state has been trying to figure out for, well, at least the past 20 years since the issue of economic diversification was raised by then-Gov. Buddy Roemer following the oil crash of the 1980s.
Moret said three longtime mainstays of Louisiana's economy — chemical manufacturing, agriculture and paper manufacturing — have been losing jobs nationwide for years and are unlikely to substantially reverse that trend, though the state still will work to boost those payrolls.
So, the state is targeting areas that have three qualities: those that are projected to have high job growth rates, those where Louisiana already has the basics or can get them and those where other southern states already haven't pulled out to an insurmountable competitive lead.
In an initiative being called "Blue Ocean," Moret laid out the sectors:
_ Using the state's digital media tax credit program, which already has brought several companies to Baton Rouge, the state will be targeting software developers, video game developers, cyber-security companies, developers of mobile applications and education and health care software. Moret said that could bring 11,000 to 23,000 direct jobs over 20 years.
_ With a low-cost automaker, V-Vehicle Co., on line to bring 1,400 jobs to Monroe, Moret said Louisiana will be trying to capitalize on the recent trend of the automotive industry moving to the South. He said that could bring 5,000 to 15,000 direct jobs over two decades.
_ On something of a semi-futuristic bent, Moret said the budding industries of energy efficiency building and manufacturing could bring energy-centered Louisiana 5,000 to 10,000 direct jobs, while the renewable energy technology could add another 8,000 to 12,000.
_ Following The Shaw Group's Inc. decision to build a nuclear reactor components plant in Lake Charles, with 1,400 jobs, Moret said the state already is pursuing other nuclear businesses with the hope of eventually adding 3,000 to 5,000 more jobs.
_ Using and expanding hospitals in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Shreveport and Lafayette could create a regional medical service industry, with the addition of 10,000 to 20,000 jobs.
_ Although the pharmaceutical business is not expected to have big growth, northwestern Louisiana's relatively low power rates — along with the success of recently expanding a Shreveport generic drug plant — have the state hoping that industry will eventually provide 1,000 to 2,000 jobs. Research into obesity and diabetes treatment — led by the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge — could bring another 1,000 to 2,000 jobs.
_ At least 10,000 jobs and maybe as many as 20,000 could be tied to the growth of water resource management, spearheaded by the drive to restore Louisiana's coast, Moret said.
_ And the state hasn't forgotten about petroleum: the natural gas find in northwestern Louisiana known as the Haynesville Shale, if fully developed, will bring 10,000 to 15,000 jobs. Ultra-deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico stands to bring in 10,000 to 15,000 jobs and enhanced oil recovery — the process of going back to previously tapped-out wells and retrieving previously untouchable deposits with new technology — has the prospect of 5,000 to 7,000 more jobs.
However the plan turns out, one thing can be said about the current administration: somebody finally has a definable development plan for a state long in need of one.