Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement (BEAM) Project

Determine the current industrial clusters in the BEAM region as well as the Bluegrass, Lake Cumberland and Lincoln Trail WIB areas in Kentucky, and the region 10 WIB in Indiana, document their scope, growth rates, productivity, and employee pay rates. The industries we will start by focusing on include advanced manufacturing, food and beverage production and health care. This will involve purchasing and manipulating very detailed economic data for the counties and the rest of the US. Standard measures will be compiled, as well as rich visuals – cluster bubble charts, location maps by detailed industry. 2. Investigate the linkages between industries. A prominent example is the linkage between an automobile assembly plant and its local suppliers of parts (Tier 1) and the suppliers of goods and services to the parts manufacturers (Tier 2). Good tools are available to measure this for any industry. The depth of the linkages locally can be used as a further measure of the economic importance of a leading industry, like auto assembly.Occupational analysis, showing the occupations most in demand by the industries. This includes a characterization of the educational requirements, skill requirements and pay by occupation. 4. Analysis of the current supply of workers in the occupations most in demand, by age, in the region. This will identify occupations where the bulk of the labor force is approaching retirement age, suggesting the need for training programs. 5. Analysis of the current educational and training programs serving the region. This includes programs at all levels, from high school to doctoral, and from both public and private institutions. The analysis will determine where there are important gaps in the programming, given the needs of businesses in the region. 6. A reports that integrate the findings from all these investigations, highlighting needs and opportunities that can enhance the growth of the industries and the prosperity of the region and state. We will produce one report for the entire BEAM region as well as separate sections in the report for each WIB area.