00;00;00;00 - 00;00;09;24
Michael Hicks
I don't think the state is doing even a minimally adequate job of coming to grips with the fact that manufacturing employment in Indiana is not going to grow.

00;00;09;26 - 00;00;21;08
Stephanie Wiechmann
That's Michael Hicks, director of Ball State's Center for Business and Economic Research. As part of his annual economic forecast, he had harsh words for Indiana officials touting manufacturing jobs as future of the state.

00;00;21;11 - 00;00;33;19
Michael Hicks
Advanced manufacturing is always going to be important to Indiana, but we're going to be doing it with fewer and fewer and fewer people. So investing in that as a long term strategy is going to robustly disappoint us.

00;00;33;21 - 00;00;35;16
Stephanie Wiechmann
Hicks says that plays out locally.

00;00;35;21 - 00;00;50;25
Michael Hicks
In Delaware County or East central Indiana, there are several dozen new job openings in advanced manufacturing every year. We graduate several thousand students every year.

00;00;50;27 - 00;01;15;17
Stephanie Wiechmann
National numbers show cumulative job growth in the US focuses almost completely on jobs for college graduates. But in Indiana, an overwhelming number of new jobs are targeted to those with less than a high school diploma. He says that's creating a poorly educated Hoosier workforce, which will not attract new, high paying jobs. The economist says Indiana needs 10,000 more high school students a year to go on to college, and needs at least half to graduate on time.

00;01;15;24 - 00;01;25;24
Stephanie Wiechmann
As for his national forecast, Hicks says for 2020, he's not predicting a recession. Sort of. He says economists call it a soft landing, an economy that could fall into recession.

00;01;25;26 - 00;01;36;05
Michael Hicks
We didn't have a huge budget. Federal budget deficit, $ 1.1 trillion, farmer bailouts in the Federal Reserve, which has lowered interest rates and added money through quantitative easing.

00;01;36;08 - 00;01;46;15
Stephanie Wiechmann
Hicks predicts the country's gross domestic product dropping under 2 % in the Midwest through 2020 and into 2021. In Muncie, Stephanie Wiechmann, IPR news.