WEBVTT - Louisiana's Pierson: Developing Workforce with FastStart(Audio)

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<v Speaker 1>Global business news twenty four hours a day. If Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Charlie. Tell it a little change for US stocks

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<v Speaker 1>holding close to records. The SMP five hundred index now unchanged,

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<v Speaker 1>eight town industrials down six little change there at eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>thousand five D twenty three. Nastack is up twelve points

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<v Speaker 1>to fifty two twenty six. The record for Nastack fifty

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<v Speaker 1>two twenty eight. So we're looking at a game right

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<v Speaker 1>now of two tens up one percent, the tenure of

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<v Speaker 1>fourteen thirty seconds, the yield one point five four percent,

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<v Speaker 1>Gold up five seventy the ounce the thirteen forty two,

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<v Speaker 1>a gain of four tents up one percent, and crude

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<v Speaker 1>oil down seven tens of one percent, falling twenty nine

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<v Speaker 1>cents of barrel forty two seventy two right now on

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<v Speaker 1>West Texas Intermediate Crude. I'm Charlie Palotan. That's of Bloomberg

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<v Speaker 1>Business Flash. This is taking stock with Pim Box and

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<v Speaker 1>Kathleen Hayes on Bloomberg Radio. When you think of Louisiana,

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps you think about Martin Gras and New Orleans, or

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps the oil and gas industry, or indeed even culinary

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<v Speaker 1>delights or a painting by Edward Dega about the Cotton Exchange.

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<v Speaker 1>But here to tell us more about Louisiana and its

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<v Speaker 1>economy is Don Pearson. He is the Secretary of Louisiana

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<v Speaker 1>Economic Development. They're based in the state's capital of Baton Rouge.

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<v Speaker 1>Don Pearson, thank you very much for being here. You're welcome,

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<v Speaker 1>pinned great to be here at Bloomberg Studios. What is

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<v Speaker 1>the state of Louisiana to you? Well, we're a diverse state,

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<v Speaker 1>one that is rapidly developing into a global energy hub,

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<v Speaker 1>and we've had a lot of success in oil and gas. Uh.

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<v Speaker 1>Certainly we're known for that commodity prices. It sounds like

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<v Speaker 1>there's an upward tick. They're glad to hear that as well.

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<v Speaker 1>But to day, there's an actual industrial revolution going on

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<v Speaker 1>around the chemical industry, and we have twenty five billion

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<v Speaker 1>dollars of announced projects in our state, with approximately sixty

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<v Speaker 1>five billion of that under engineering and permitting and and

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps the early stages of construction. So this low oil

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<v Speaker 1>price is a low feedstock price and a low energy

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<v Speaker 1>price to these major chemical corporations, and they're taking advantage

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<v Speaker 1>of that spot in the market in a state that's

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<v Speaker 1>rich with ports, pipelines, rail infrastructure, and the ability through

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<v Speaker 1>these ports to reach global markets. Well, the oil price

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<v Speaker 1>right now, sorry, not going your way. It's down about

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<v Speaker 1>half a percent right now, down about twenty four cents

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<v Speaker 1>on the n imax seventy eight cents for a barrel

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<v Speaker 1>of crude. Give us some examples of the company, for example, IBM,

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps and some of the initiatives that you have helped

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<v Speaker 1>put together that have encouraged IBM to come to Louisiana. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>thanks for bringing that up. We are strong in our

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<v Speaker 1>traditional oil and gas industry, agriculture, forestry, those types of programs,

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<v Speaker 1>but what we want to do is also position the

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<v Speaker 1>state in aerospace and aviation and I T and some

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<v Speaker 1>water management issues are also some things we have an

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<v Speaker 1>interest in. But through a great incentive program and through

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<v Speaker 1>a great workforce training program, we've had outstanding success with

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<v Speaker 1>companies like IBM, C s R, A, c g I,

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<v Speaker 1>and GE Capital where we're managing to bring the university

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<v Speaker 1>system and UH these programming and software solution companies together

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<v Speaker 1>and UH, with a very focused effort on workforce development,

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<v Speaker 1>provide to them the kinds of folks that they need

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<v Speaker 1>to be successful. And so we're experiencing great growth there.

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<v Speaker 1>What if let's say someone was the chief executive of

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<v Speaker 1>a technology company, or indeed even an oil and gas

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<v Speaker 1>company or some services business, and they were interested perhaps

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<v Speaker 1>in expanding. What would they learn from calling Don Pearson

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<v Speaker 1>at the Louisiana Economic Development Well, they learned that we

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<v Speaker 1>can provide to them a complete concier service to evaluate

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<v Speaker 1>market opportunities. Once we know listen and understand what their

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<v Speaker 1>goals are and what the specific nature of their company is,

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<v Speaker 1>we can message out to all sixty four of our

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<v Speaker 1>parishes you would call them counties and identify available sites.

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<v Speaker 1>We can demonstrate low energy costs, we can look into

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<v Speaker 1>all the logistics that are important into UH building this

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<v Speaker 1>kind of decision matrix and then make sure they're very

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<v Speaker 1>aware of our low tax environment and our ability to

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<v Speaker 1>deliver a world class workforce. We just got our seventh

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<v Speaker 1>Super Bowl trophy last week, UH, the award for the

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<v Speaker 1>number one workforce training program in America. We're quite proud

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<v Speaker 1>of it. Tell us how it works well. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>comprehensive solution. And that again, we'll listen to the needs

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<v Speaker 1>of the company. UH. That then we'll recruit, will screen

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<v Speaker 1>the people that we've recruited, looking for the right attributes,

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<v Speaker 1>the right attitudes, h a fit with the company's culture.

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<v Speaker 1>Will then give the company an opportunity to identify inside

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<v Speaker 1>that universe of people the folks that look right to

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<v Speaker 1>them to go forward with training. Will conduct pre employment training,

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<v Speaker 1>and we'll do that in a manner that's copyrighted to

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<v Speaker 1>the company, so all of their materials has kept confidential,

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<v Speaker 1>all the things that are proprietary and important to their process. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>On day one, we'll deliver that work force, and then

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<v Speaker 1>we will stay with the company over time, not to

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<v Speaker 1>just give you the people you need on day one,

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<v Speaker 1>but to have a steady pipeline of the skill sets,

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<v Speaker 1>the certificates, or the degrees that are are necessary to

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<v Speaker 1>be a successful employee in the company. Talk about success, Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>success with a seamless steel tube mill in Shreveport plus

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<v Speaker 1>an eleven billion dollar ethane cracker complex in in Lake Charles.

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<v Speaker 1>How did those come about? Um? Certainly we were in

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<v Speaker 1>a global competition and a stiff US competition for the

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<v Speaker 1>Bentler steel plant that's located at the port in uh

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<v Speaker 1>Catto Parish in the environment of street Port, Louisiana. UM.

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<v Speaker 1>One of the interesting things around that was to convince

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<v Speaker 1>a German company that we could deliver the workforce. You

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<v Speaker 1>have to appreciate that in Germany, uh the young people

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<v Speaker 1>start an apprentice program, probably in junior high school. So

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<v Speaker 1>when you look across to America and say, well, how

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<v Speaker 1>are you going to provide a workforce without those kinds

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<v Speaker 1>of programs, it really had them raising their eyebrows. We

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<v Speaker 1>were able to package a comprehensive solution with the construction

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<v Speaker 1>of a twenty million dollar training center on a community

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<v Speaker 1>college campus, dedicated to them for the short term and

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<v Speaker 1>to our industry in the long term. Thank you very

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<v Speaker 1>much for joining us and sharing this information. Don Pearson

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<v Speaker 1>is the Secretary of Louisiana Economic Development Program l E

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<v Speaker 1>ed Fast Start much appreciate it. He's based in the

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<v Speaker 1>state's capital of Baton Rouge. This is taking stock. I'm

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<v Speaker 1>pim Fox and this is Bloomberg coming up. Get ready

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