Greater Fort Wayne Inc.’s economic development team visits hundreds of Allen County businesses each year. We learn about their businesses, opportunities for growth, and pain points, and we strive to connect them with resources to assist them in reaching their goals.
To bear out what we hear during these visits, Greater Fort Wayne Inc. has twice engaged a polling firm to conduct a statistically reliable survey of our Allen County business community. The surveys were completed in 2019 and 2024. While there is so much to be optimistic about, businesses face a few persistent challenges that have remained unchanged over the past five years.
Local businesses’ top barrier to business growth is finding workers. This was the #1 barrier identified in both 2019 and 2024. This is also the top barrier we hear during our business visits.
Local businesses are adding employees and increasing wages and benefits. These were the top two business changes indicated in both the 2019 and 2024 surveys. The issue of finding qualified workers compounds as new jobs are added and positions are upskilled with next-gen technology integrations.
Local businesses overwhelmingly look to local talent when hiring, with 82 percent of recruitment focused on Northeast Indiana. This has remained stable over the 2019 and 2024 period. Even from the winning position of being the fastest growing big city in the Midwest, we know population growth is only part of the solution. Our region must dial in on ways to move this needle on the skill and credential attainment of our existing and next generation workers.
Our businesses have a high level of confidence in our community’s leadership to move the Fort Wayne region forward, together. Across both the 2019 and 2024 surveys, we found that about 95% of local businesses feel that Allen County is on the right track.
I share this confidence, and it is why I am so proud to serve on the advisory council for the Coalition for Advancing Postsecondary Education and Training, which will directly address talent needs in our region.
This collaboration, led by the Don Wood Foundation and Questa Education Foundation, is a great example of how we work to affect change in the Fort Wayne region. Their research, completed over the last year, has identified current and future workforce needs, highlighted gaps in educational attainment to meet talent needs, and identified barriers exacerbating postsecondary education access for prospective students.
It also identified initial opportunities for the Postsecondary Coalition volunteers to develop tactical, changemaking recommendations to help support high school students’ education and career pathways and adult learners’ credential or degree attainment.
It is hard work, but work we know will not happen on its own. Investing in people – who can build a career and have the skills to advance with change – means an investment in our businesses as well. They need a more robust, skilled workforce so they can continue to grow and thrive.