Springfield Business Journal
- October 15, 2007
The Missing Demographic
Futurist tells Springfield leaders: Retain and recruit
educated youth
By Eric Olson
ederal
court law clerk Ryan DeBoef is a statistical rarity in Springfield.
The 27-year-old 2002 Evangel University graduate returned to Springfield
two years ago holding a University of Missouri law degree. His objective:
start a legal career.
“Springfield has more career opportunities than cities of similar size,”
said DeBoef, a rural Iowa native who works for U.S. District Court Judge
Richard Dorr. “I don’t think people understand how good it is here for
professionals.”
DeBoef was among the roughly 280 in attendance at the city's Oct. 9
Economic Outlook Conference, where keynote speaker futurist Joel Kotkin
warned that Springfield is missing out on economic growth from a younger
demographic. This was the fourth year for the conference, presented by the
city of Springfield and the Springfield Business & Development Corp.
Kotkin showed statistics compiled by Praxis Strategy Group that revealed
Springfield lost nearly five 25–40-year-olds out of every 1,000 residents in
2004.
Statistics
compiled by Praxis Strategy Group show that in 2004 Springfield lost nearly
five 25–40-year-olds out of every 1,000 residents.
“You’re losing a lot of those people in their 30s,” Kotkin told the
audience at University Plaza Convention Center, noting that 25–40-year-olds
are flocking to cities such as Riverside, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., and
Phoenix. “You’ve got a lot of work to do.”
On the flipside, Springfield is gaining 41–64-year-olds by the same rate
– nearly five for every 1,000 people, net domestic migration stats show.
That trend rivals Las Vegas’ addition of more than six 41–64-year-olds for
every 1,000 people.
Ready to capitalize
Kotkin, an expert on global, economic, political and social trends, said
Springfield and other small-to-midsize cities are in a position to
capitalize on America’s migration patterns, which indicate preferences
shifting to small towns. For instance, metropolitan areas greater than 5
million people lost more than 2 million residents between 2000 and 2004,
while at the same time, cities with populations less than half a million,
Kotkin said, gained 500,000 people.
“People are looking for less-crowded places,” he said.
The question becomes whether Springfield will take advantage. “It’s up to
you,” he told conference attendees.
Kotkin charged city business and community leaders with retaining more
educated young people such as DeBoef and diversifying the economy to attract
skilled workers across a broad demographic spectrum.
Young professionals quickly became the focus of the Corporate
Headquarters panelist discussion – one of three by regional leaders during
the conference.
At Bob Noble’s Springfield advertising agency, officials are trying to
“young-up.”
“The reality is that the net generation will be running this world,” he
said, adding that businesses have to be willing to adapt.
BKD LLP Managing Partner Neal Spencer said the Springfield-based
accounting firm, the 10th largest in the nation, also is working to attract
a younger workforce.
“We need to do a better job selling ourselves to young people,” he
admitted.
Understanding that generation is key, said Jack Prim of Monett-based Jack
Henry & Associates.
“Our perspective is not the same as many of those who work for us,” he
said.
Know the city’s makeup
The key options to combat population shifts, Kotkin said, are to target
immigrants, people in their 30s and downshifting baby boomers, and to focus
on basics such as infrastructure and sound business sectors.
Kotkin’s data clearly identified construction as the Springfield area’s
fastest-growing sector in the last six years, up 4,000 jobs, or 69 percent.
The highly populated education and health services segment experienced the
largest volume growth, 9,000 jobs, equaling a 28 percent advance.
Manufacturing was the only noted sector in Praxis Strategy Group’s research
to lose jobs – 5,500 since 2000, a 24 percent dip.
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