The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry says the state is making great strides towards economic competitiveness. In 2023, the group released its LA Driven strategic plan, outlining a series of goals to achieve by 2030. President and CEO Will Green says Louisiana now ranks 24th in the country in both job creation and wage growth, both far exceeding their original goals well ahead of schedule.
“We have made significant strides in strengthening job creation, and in accelerating wage growth. In just two years, we’ve already reached the middle third in both of those goals,” Green said.
Green says one key to economic competitiveness is workforce readiness, and that involves a strong education system. He says Louisiana has made significant improvements in the classroom.
“We’ve gone from the 40s down to the 30s in our education ranking. More kids are graduating, more kids are reading and more kids are understanding math at an early age than ever before,” Green explained.
Green says as such, Louisiana is well on its way towards achieving its education goals of 66% third-grade reading proficiency and an 88% high school graduation rate by 2030.
“We’ve improved our third-grade reading proficiency. We’re at 93% of our goal there. We’ve improved high school graduation rates. We’re at 88% of our goal there,” Green noted.
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