Creative workers linked to economic success
BYLINE: L.A. Lorek, EXPRESS-NEWS BUSINESS WRITER
If leaders want to attract and retain talented people to their communities, they must create places where those individuals like to work, said speakers at the Texas Lyceum conference Monday.
A region's creative work force is the key to its economic success, said Richard Florida, author of three books on the creative class and professor of public policy at George Mason University in Arlington, Va.
"Place is the single most important thing in the global economy," Florida said.
Some social theorists argue that globalization has made workers' location less important, but Florida argues that quality of life has become one of the most important factors in job satisfaction among creative employees. He gave the keynote luncheon address at Harnessing the Lightning: An Economic Growth Summit for Texas.
The Texas Lyceum, a nonprofit leadership group, organized the two-day conference, which runs through today at the Convention Center. Attended Monday by about 400 people, the conference focuses on how to commercialize entrepreneurs' ideas.
Florida defines the creative class as knowledge workers such as lawyers and accountants and core creative types including artists, writers, musicians and entertainers. Texas ranks seventh in the country among creative states, he said.
About 40 million people work in the creative economy today, including 2 million in Texas, Florida said. The creative economy is about technology, talent and tolerance for diverse lifestyles and for people from all backgrounds.
San Antonio has 200,000 creative workers, who make up 30 percent of the work force, Florida said. The city ranks 34th in the country for its overall creative work force, but it ranks 126th for innovation.
On the other hand, Austin ranks first in the country in its creative work force, according to Florida's latest research.
San Antonio has a huge bright spot in its creative economy, Florida said, and that is Toyota's new manufacturing plant. It begins producing Tundra trucks this week.
More than any other company, Toyota understands that the key to its success lies in the collective intelligence of its workers, Florida said.
Toyota is helping to turn San Antonio and South Texas into the "new Midwest" auto manufacturing region, he said. What makes the new plants different, Florida said, is that companies are empowering manufacturing workers and making them members of the creative class.
But Texas is becoming a tale of two states -- the haves and the have-nots, Florida said. It is important to support education to make sure that further division does not occur, he said.
"The globalization thing is not lifting all boats," Florida said.
Texas has three of the world's 25 megaregions -- Dallas to Austin, Houston to Louisiana, and the border with Mexico -- that define the world economy, Florida said.
The 25 megaregions account for 90 percent of the world's innovation and the bulk of its production, he said.
In the next 10 years, the United States will add 10 million jobs in the creative economy, Florida said, and the regions that offer the best lifestyles will attract the most workers. It's not just about park space and latte bars, it's about leadership that encourages creative thinking and innovation, he said.
Other speakers at the conference echoed Florida's thoughts on cultivating creative workers.
Companies don't usually move and establish locations in new cities, said Randall Kempner, vice president for regional innovation at the federal Council on Competitiveness. "What we really want is to have the best and brightest people living in our regions."
That means companies must focus on retention and not attracting new companies, Kempner said.
"It's about talent," he said.
Other speakers stressed the need to improve kindergarten through high school education and to increase Texas' number of high school graduates.
More than 40 percent of the Texas work force will not have graduated from high school by 2040, said Diane Rath, chairwoman of the Texas Workforce Commission. By then, 80 percent of Texas jobs will require post-secondary education, she said.