Gov. Reeves wants to continue economic successes from first term. See what he said

Mississippi needs to continue to focus on five things to continue the state's economic boom, Gov. Tate Reeves said Thursday.

"The main thing in Mississippi is workforce development, site development, educational achievement levels, job creation and economic development," Reeves said in a Thursday speech addressing the Mississippi Economic Council. "If we can all focus on those things, I think you'll see tremendous successes in both the short and the long-run."

Reeves was among the speakers at the MEC's Capital Day 2024, an event that kicks off the start of a new business year. Business leaders throughout Mississippi converged at the Mississippi Trade Mart on Thursday to discuss the state's economic outlook for the future.

Reeves spent most of his speech talking about the successes his administration created in each of those five areas during his first term in the state's top seat. Reeves highlighted the creation of Accelerate Mississippi, a state program that helps with workforce development for Mississippi's industries. He talked about the creation of 14,000 jobs in the state, the "Mississippi Miracle" in education and spending over $8 billion in capital investments.

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Continuing to capitalize on those areas is the plan going forward in 2024, the governor said, but there also needs to be more investment in job areas that will be in demand in the future.

"Energy and IT… we've invested $14 million in new programs and expanding programs," Reeves said. "Healthcare, we've invested $55 million in healthcare programs to train the healthcare workforce of tomorrow. We've invested $30 million in advanced manufacturing. We've invested $17 million in programs of logistics and construction. All of those are areas where we're not just guessing they're going to be jobs in the next 20 years. We're pretty highly confident … and we need to train our people and invest in our people to be able to do those jobs."

Reeves also spent a majority of his speech specifically highlighting Accelerate Mississippi, formerly the state's office of workforce development, for the job force successes the state has experienced.

He highlighted the "Career Coach" program throughout Mississippi, which brought in coaches to the state's school districts to help connect and prepare high-school students to available careers.

"We're going to have about 70-to-75% of all of our students who are not going to go to college," Reeves said. "They are going to go straight into the workforce. Hence, career coaches being born."

Lastly, Reeves, as well as Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, told those in attendance Thursday of plans to continue pushing Mississippi as a state with no corporate income tax, saying it will help attract more jobs and therefore more people.

Though Hosemann talked about similar successes as Reeves, he did point out one negative the state is experiencing: Mississippi has the worst labor force participation rate in the nation.

The labor force participation rate measures the percentage of Mississippians who are in the labor force or are actively seeking a job. That's different than the unemployment rate, which measures the percentage of the labor force that is currently without a job.

Hosemann said the state's labor force participation rate is currently hovering around 53.9%, while the national average is 61%.

"We have a huge pool of people that could be working for you, making you better, making your jobs better, making your company better, making their lives better, making our state better," Hosemann said. "All of that if they were just working."

To combat that problem, Hosemann said the state needs to continue improving education and preparing Mississippians for the workforce. The legislature is currently in talks about making tuition free at the community college level.

"We've got to have competent people and that competency will come from education," Hosemann said. "The only way to add to the pool is to get a more educated workforce that joins the pool."

This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Gov. Reeves, Lt. Gov Hosemann speak at Mississippi Economic Council