From the Editor
Executive Editor, Indiana Business Research Center, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University
It’s summertime and the recession is fading. Well, kind of. Unemployment levels are still high in Indiana and the Midwest. Congress continues to grapple with appropriate responses to the issue of job creation and the continuation of unemployment benefits. And much of the world is watching BP and the United States struggle with the mess in the Gulf of Mexico.
While all of that is happening, we ask you to turn your mind to two important dimensions of the Hoosier economy: land use and the effect of the types of jobs we have on per capita income measures. The first article poses a critical question to Hoosiers—are we using up too much prime farmland for development? The second article hones in on the types of jobs and their wages among Indiana’s metropolitan areas. It will come as no surprise that the Indianapolis metro area continues to grow higher paying jobs, particularly among the professional, legal, and life sciences occupations. But, there are rising and sinking stars to be found among all of the metro areas as this article delves into the effect of our occupational mix on personal income.
