Education key to rural economy

If northern Nevada's rural counties want to develop better-paying jobs so their residents can keep up with higher costs of living, they'll need to pay more attention to education, say consultants mapping the region's economic future.

The rural counties are home to relatively small numbers of college graduates. High school dropout rates are high in some communities.

And potentially most troublesome, says consultant Ben Loftsgaarden, is an undertone that education is a low priority in some of the rural areas.

"We heard that a lot of the communities in this region don't necessarily pay the value to education that they should," Loftsgaarden told economic leaders from the region a few days ago.

He's a project manager for Angelou-Economics of Austin, Texas, which is in the midst of an eight-month study of the economic future of a seven-county region that includes Carson City along with Douglas, Lyon, Storey, Churchill, Pershing and Mineral counties.

As consultants dug into statistical profiles of the region, Loftsgaarden said they were struck by the educational weakness of the workforce.

Only 18 percent of the residents of the region have college degrees, compared with 27 percent nationally. Even the county with the most college graduates Douglas County, with 24 percent doesn't match the national average.

In Mineral and Pershing counties, meanwhile, nearly 25 percent of the workforce doesn't have a high school diploma, while the other counties in the mostly hover around the national average of 18 percent. The problem with a weakly educated workforce, the consultant said, is this:

Driven by largely by housing prices, the cost of living is rising throughout rural northern Nevada.

To keep up with higher living costs, the region needs to develop better paying jobs and that usually means higher-skilled jobs that require more education, whether it's collegiate or technical.

In fact, in an earlier report, AngelouEconomics cautioned community leaders in the seven-county region that relatively low educational levels may scare off employers looking to bring companies to the region.

The industries that AngelouEconomics has suggested as targets for future growth of the region industries that included advanced manufacturing, renewable energy and technology all require higher-skilled workers to earn higher wages.

While the education of the workforce worries the consultants, Loftsgaarden noted they found some bright spots as well.

Western Nevada Community College, which operates campuses throughout the rural region, clearly understands the role it plays in economic development and the training of a good workforce, Loftsgaarden said.

And he said numerous agencies in the region provide training for the workforce.

The key, however, is coordination of those agencies, said Tom Fitzgerald, the chief executive officer of Nevadaworks, the agency that spearheads workforce development in the region.

Fernley Mayor David Stix, meanwhile, said officials in the region might lobby for Nevada lawmakers to devote a portion of the fast-filling state coffers to creation of technical training academies in rural areas.

Along with strengthening education of the workforce, Loftsgaarden said another priority of regional officials should be the reduction of intramural strife and a commitment to working together as a region.

Communities in northern Nevada, he said, don't compete against each other for economic growth they compete with communities throughout the world.