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March 14, 1999
By MAUREEN MILFORD, Staff reporter
Delaware's job market has been so strong in recent years that First State employers now bring in almost 31,000 people from other states to do jobs here.
This wasn't always the case.
In 1960, 2,000 more people commuted to jobs outside of Delaware than entered the state.
Delaware could see a return to those days should there be any upset in the delicate government-business-social balance, economic policy experts say.
"Who here can predict where the DuPont Co. is headed? Hopefully, it's not out of Delaware. Where is the credit-card (industry) going ? and the poultry industry?" Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., said in November.
But, as has been the case in the the past, Delaware is not waiting around to see what happens. In November, a group of Delaware businessmen, academics and public policy experts began working on a major project to chart the course of growth in the state.
Called "Choices for Delaware: Life and the Economy in 2000 and Beyond," the project is the first such effort in Delaware since the Tomorrow Commission was created in 1974.
Choices for Delaware was developed by the Delaware Public Policy Institute, a think tank formed in 1990. The institute is joined in the effort by the University of Delaware's College of Human Resources, Education and Public Policy's Institute of Public Administration and The News Journal Co.
The project began with a day-long workshop in November at which the roughly 300 participants reviewed four University of Delaware research reports. The studies examined population, employment and state government in Delaware from 1945 to 1998 major trends in key Delaware industries attitudes among residents toward economic growth and the costs and benefits of such growth in Delaware.
Armed with the research, four task forces, comprised of businessmen, government officials and community representatives from the three counties, are now reviewing and studying the data. They will ask for public input.
The task forces are entitled: Preserving Delaware's Economic Base Preparing for and Exploiting New Opportunities for Prosperity by Attracting Emerging Industries The Dynamics of Growth and Restructuring the Roles of the Public and Private Sectors to Maximize Economic Development on a Statewide Basis.
The four groups will come up with recommendations that they will outline in a formal report that will be delivered to Gov. Tom Carper and the General Assembly in December. A second forum also will take place that month.
The Delaware Public Policy Institute's "Choices for Delaware" forum last November drew some of the state's most influential people, such as Gov. Tom Carper (at the podium), Rep. Mike Castle (center) and ex-governor Pete du Pont.
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