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2013 to 2018, the fastest-growing metro
area in the U.S. was Lake Charles,” in the
southwest part of the state, says the report’s author,
Loren C. Scott. Scott heads the consulting and speaker
firm Loren C. Scott and Associates and is a member of
the National Business Economics Council. He cautions,
however, that local economies “above the I-10” freeway
are lagging.
Yet it’s in northern Louisiana that technological in-
novation is promising transformative progress. In fact,
it has established the state as a leader in cybersecurity
that’s leveraging cooperation with businesses and Louisi-
ana’s substantial military assets. The stretch of highway
between Shreveport and Monroe is known as the I-20
Cyber Corridor, where Louisiana Tech University has
established the nation’s first four-year degree in cyber
engineering. Nearby, the historically black Grambling
State University recently partnered with LED to solidify
relationships with technology employers, who will pro-
vide work-based learning opportunities and help build a
skilled labor pool for them to tap.
Just outside Shreveport, Bossier is home to the
3,000-acre National Cyber Research Park, anchored by
the Cyber Innovation Center, a Louisiana-based nonprofit
that provides STEM education nationwide and fosters
collaboration among government, private industry, and
academia. “In the last six or seven years, we’ve spent
$130 million up here on cyber facilities and education,”
says Craig Spohn, the center’s executive director, who
also serves as the chairman of Louisiana’s Cyber Com-
mission. Unlike construction jobs, says Spohn, which can
be fleeting, “The jobs we’re creating are for a knowledge-
based economy. They’re sustainable positions that will
continue to grow.”
The state’s northern region, says Scott, also notched
a big win with the recent decision by telecommunica-
tions company CenturyLink, the largest Fortune 500
company headquartered in Louisiana, to remain in
Monroe after merging with a Colorado company. And
German-based Benteler Steel/Tube has committed to an
almost $1 billion project in Shreveport. A key factor for
both, say Gov. Edwards and Secretary Pierson, was the
state’s determination to develop the workforce needed
for 21st-century jobs. “Companies tell you, ‘We can-
not find the skill sets we’ll need,’ in cloud computing,
big data, and other aspects of the digital sphere,” says
Pierson. “Investing in people through higher education,
with performance metrics built in and in service of the
industry, becomes a very powerful engine that’s driving
success for us here.”
The state’s economic development efforts also
include an LED program to certify sites that have gone
through all environmental and other reviews and are
shovel-ready. “We go through all the elements that give
it the seal of approval,” says Pierson. “This shovel-ready
status saves business and industrial prospects a great
deal of time and money, making it more likely that Loui-
siana can prevail in the highly competitive site selection
process.”
Other efforts take a different aim. In 2016, Edwards
decided to expand Medicaid insurance coverage and
says it’s paying “tremendous dividends” for residents
and the economy. “On the first day, more than 408,000
working people had health care for the first time in their
lives, because they couldn’t afford it before,” he says.
“Having a healthy, productive workforce is incredibly
important.” The move has also generated $1.8 billion in
health-care spending supporting 19,000 jobs—and has
even saved money by limiting disbursements from state
funds.
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