INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana’s business-recruitment officials reached 30 percent fewer incentive deals during 2016 than the previous year, which the agency says is a positive sign.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. completed 227 such deals for tax breaks and training grants this past year after inking 323 during 2015, the Indianapolis Business Journal reported (https://bit.ly/2iytQdh).
Agency spokeswoman Abby Gras said the decline reflects some strategy changes.
“What we’re seeing is that we’re at full employment - record employment - so we’re being more selective in the companies we’re offering incentives to,” she said.
Indiana’s unemployment rate in November was 4.2 percent, which is the state’s lowest mark since 2001. Around the state, Greene and Lake counties had the highest unemployment rates at 5.4 percent. Bartholomew and Dubois counties shared had the lowest rates at 2.9 percent.
The agency said its 227 deals included commitments from companies to add a cumulative 20,320 Indiana jobs, as compared with 26,555 in 2015.
Most of the jobs have yet to be created as the time periods for the companies to qualify for the incentives can stretch over several years.
The agency’s biggest 2016 jobs deals were with Salesforce for 800 jobs in Indianapolis and Allied Solutions for about 600 jobs in Carmel. The largest one outside the Indianapolis metro area was with Safe Hiring Solutions to hire about 280 people in Crawfordsville.
The new jobs included in the state incentive deals for 2016 will pay an average of $25.43 per hour, according to the agency. That’s up from $24.87 in 2015, and 20 percent higher than average wage statewide.
Steve Akard, the IEDC’s chief of staff, said the agency has focused on better wages as part of incentive packages.
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Information from: Indianapolis Business Journal, https://www.ibj.com
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