Markell celebrates Delaware's economy at luncheon

Gov. Jack Markell says promoting training and job skills has been key to Delaware’s emergence from the Great Recession.

“Our job growth has significantly outpaced the job growth of every other state in the region, as well as the country overall,” Markell said during a speech at the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce's general membership luncheon at King's Creek Country Club Oct. 19.

Markell touted his administration's investment in workers' skills as a positive for the First State's economic growth, pointing to Pathways to Prosperity, an initiative for Delaware students that provides specialized instruction, workplace training and college credits.

“We have to invest in a very real way in skills,” Markell said. “There's probably never been a better time to be somebody with the right skills and there's probably never been a worse time to be somebody without the right skills.”

As technology replaces many workers, employers don’t need as many people as they once did to get the job done, Markell said.

“This is the real world that we live in,” he said. “Now, we can bemoan that fact, or we can say that is in fact the real world, and we better figure out what we're going to do about it.”

Markell told business leaders that investing in workers' skills should be one of Delaware's top economic priorities.

“Of all the wealth that's going to be created in the next 15 or 20 years, something like 75 percent or 80 percent of it is going to be created outside of this country,” he said. “We have to do everything we can so the people of Delaware get to participate as this wealth gets created elsewhere. That means exports, and it means foreign direct investment.”

Markell pointed to the state's poultry industry as an example of how Delaware can stay on the global map through exports.

While government agencies can offer incentives and programs to bolster the First State's economic growth, it's really the commitment of business owners and residents that has a direct impact on strengthening local economies, he said.

“I feel very strongly that when you talk about economic growth, the credit belongs with the people who are putting in the sweat and the equity, their money, the time and the effort to create jobs,” he said.