Description
Mary Burkes Plan Invest For Success
A Letter from Mary Burke
I am running for Governor because I love Wisconsin and know that we have
everything needed to be a thriving, top ten economy. But as I travel the state,
I hear too many stories of new college graduates leaving the state because
they can’t find a good job here. Or of an aspiring entrepreneur with a great
idea but can’t get the capital needed to turn their idea into a business. Of
sons and daughters who just graduated from high school but lack the skills
to get a good paying job. And of workers in their 50s who were laid off and
worry about finding a job that will make sure they have money for retirement.
Unfortunately, we all know too many people with similar stories in this
economy.
But it does not have to be this way.
Wisconsin, like every other state in the nation, was hit hard by the Great
Recession. It was a national calamity, but take a look at how other states are
faring today, and you’ll see all but one state in the Midwest is doing better
than Wisconsin.
I know Wisconsin has
everything it takes to
have one of the strongest
economies anywhere,
but we’re not even close.
We’re 48th in new
business startups.
And we’re creating jobs
at a rate that’s just half
the national average.
We can do better.
I’ve spent most of my career in the private sector, and I know what it means
to build a Wisconsin success story. At Trek, I grew the division I led from $3
million to $50 million in sales annually, helping Trek grow to nearly 1,000
Wisconsin jobs.
That real world experience – and being held accountable for the results –
informs my plan and my approach.
What I’ve learned is that creating jobs doesn’t begin, or end, with ideology;
it takes clear objectives, honest assessments, and a commitment to working
with all partners around the table to ensure success. And most importantly, it
requires a clear understanding of what actually makes the economy grow.
For me, it starts with creating more good-paying jobs and making sure
workers have the skills necessary to fill those jobs. Succeeding on those
fronts strengthens and grows the middle class. And when the middle class
thrives, businesses grow – generating more jobs, opportunity and prosperity
for everyone. Everybody gets a fair shot – that’s the American dream. And we
need more people who feel like it can happen for them right here in Wisconsin.
That means making sound, strategic investments. At Trek Bicycle, we grew
sales and jobs by investing in our people, offices to open new markets and
engineers and designers to create better products. All good business people
know it takes investment to grow. It is no different with Wisconsin’s economy.
We need big, bold ideas to build a thriving, top ten economy, and we need new
leadership to make it happen.
I call my plan “Invest for Success” – and in the pages that follow I lay out the
five core strategies I’ll use to turn things around.
I hope you’ll take the time to read the whole plan. You see, I’m a
businessperson, so I view this as a starting point. I want feedback, and
input into the plan from business owners, workers, entrepreneurs, students,
community leaders – and you – so that we can strengthen and update it along
the way.
Because this plan isn’t just for the campaign – it’s the playbook I’ll look to
the day I’m sworn in as your Governor, and start working to strengthen
Wisconsin’s economy and the middle class.
That’s what I’ll do as your governor.
And I hope you’ll join me.
Let’s get to work.
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Invest for Success Overview? p. 3
Strategy 1:?Clusters of Opportunity? p. 5
Strategy 2:?Closing the Degree Gap and Connecting Middle-class
Working People to 21st Century jobs? p. 10
Strategy 3:?Investing in the ideas and entrepreneurs who will create
the next generation of growth businesses? p. 18
Strategy 4:?Position Wisconsin to be highly competitive in the global
marketplace? p. 23
Strategy 5:?Creating a climate to grow jobs and a high-quality
workforce? p. 26
References? p. 35
2
INVEST FOR SUCCESS
My family has been in Wisconsin for four
generations. I love this state. But I am deeply
concerned about what is happening in
Wisconsin today, because for all the talk
about being pro-business, the failure to take a
businesslike approach to growing jobs here is
holding our economy back.
Every businessperson knows that producing
growth and jobs doesn’t begin, or end, with
ideology – it takes a solid plan. It starts with
laying out clear objectives, and being honest
about how you will assess whether you have
achieved them. It means laying out the strategies
and the tactics you’ll use to reach those goals
– not slogans that can fit on a bumper sticker.
It means looking at the variables that go into
business success, applying them to policy
decisions, determining the metrics by which
you will measure success, and ultimately being
held accountable. And it takes real management
expertise, and a commitment to working with all
the partners at the table, to ensure success.
When it comes to job creation, the painful
truth is that Wisconsin is doing worse than the
country as a whole, and compared with other
Midwestern states, we are 9th out of 10. In fact,
the rest of the country has been adding jobs
at twice the rate of Wisconsin.1 After I left the
position of Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce,
the impact of the Great Recession was as bad
in Wisconsin as anywhere. Unfortunately, while
Wisconsin suffered from the recession like the
rest of America, we have not enjoyed the same
recovery as the rest of the country. Current
policies have made Wisconsin an outlier
compared to the general recovery across the
country:
an unacceptable 35th in job creation in even the
most recent data.3
? Unemployment: When I served as Wisconsin’s
Commerce Secretary, Wisconsin had 72,000
more jobs than it does now, based on the latest
data.4 Meanwhile, the state’s annual average
unemployment rate was never higher than
4.8% when I was Commerce Secretary – but
unemployment has never been below 6.1%
under the current Administration.5
? Shrinking Wages: Wisconsin wages are
declining at double the rate of other states,
and current indicators suggest these trends
will continue if we stay on the current path.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
private-sector wages in Wisconsin fell 2.2% in
the 12 months ending September 2012, double
the 1.1% decline experienced by the nation
overall.6 Wisconsin has a nearly $4,000 wage
gap with the rest of the country.7 8
? Job Growth: Recently, jobs in our state have
grown at only half the rate of the rest of the
country. If we had grown at a rate just equal to
the average of 49 other states since 2011, we’d
have almost 50% more jobs.2 This places us at
3
As bad as the last three years, and their
misguided policies, have been for our state,
the long-term story is no better. This is not a
challenge that has developed overnight – and,
if we do not dramatically change direction, it is
not one we will solve anytime soon, either. Like
many other older, industrial states, Wisconsin has
seen its traditional industries – including those
in manufacturing and agriculture – lose ground
to low-cost foreign competition in a globalizing
economy. This is a decades-long story.9
? Wisconsin lags our neighboring states in capital
investment in new ventures – with less than half
of the level of Michigan and Minnesota, and
only about one-eighth the amount invested in
Illinois.10
? The Ewing Kauffman Foundation ranked
Wisconsin 48th in new business starts.11
? Wisconsin now ranks among the top ten states
for out-migration.12
We simply cannot keep on the same path we’re on.
We need bold change. As a businesswoman, I know
something about growing rather than shrinking
businesses, and what I’ve learned is that you have to
make investments in order to generate dividends. I want
to see our home state become a state of strong growth,
in all regions again, one that pays dividends for the
next generation the way it did for mine. To do that, we
need to start making the investments that will pay off –
investments in helping businesses and business clusters
grow, investments in the education and quality of our
workforce, investments in science and technology,
investments in capital formation, investments in trade
promotion and export marketing, investments in
communities, business climate, and quality of life.
That’s a bold change from the policies of our
current state government. It’s the change we need.
In this document, I lay out the strategies for how
we make that change to invest for success. To
Since the start of the Millennium, Wisconsin’s
put these strategies together, I have consulted
overall economy has contracted by 1.4%, even as
some of the best minds in Wisconsin, and I
we’ve experienced growth in individual regions of
have traveled our entire state, talking with
the state. Overall, we trail the nation by a whopping
farmers and business leaders, entrepreneurs and
2.8 percentage points – because Wisconsin has
working families, small business owners and
contracted by 1.4% as the national economy
inventors, educators and workers. I’ve conducted
has grown by 1.4% – declining by as much as
roundtable discussions across Wisconsin, and
employment nationwide has risen (see chart).
poured through the many in-depth reports
produced on our state’s economy like Be Bold 1
Wisconsin needs government to work with
and 2.
business to train and educate tomorrow’s workers,
to build the infrastructure and attract the capital
You see, I’m a businessperson, so I view this as
necessary to grow business activity, and to make
a starting point. I want feedback, and input into
the investments in communities and quality-of-life
the plan, so that we can strengthen and update it
that make businesses and workers alike want to call
along the way. Because this plan isn’t just for the
a place “home.”
campaign – it’s the playbook I’ll look to the day
I’m sworn in as Governor, and start working to
We’re clearly not doing that now:
strengthen Wisconsin’s economy.
4
Investing for Success: Strategies
Strategy 1: Clusters of opportunity.
Organize economic development and public
policy efforts around industry clusters, not just
individual firms.
Source:http://www.isc.hbs.edu/pdf/2013-1024---ICIC_Economic_
Summit---Michael_Porter.pdf
Background: Industry clusters are groups of
similar or related firms that share common
markets, technologies, and skills. Some firms
may compete with one another, but in many
cases they are linked through the supply
chain and rely on each other to do business.
The next two pages provide information on
Wisconsin’s numerous economic clusters.
Firms and workers in an industry cluster gain
advantages from their proximity to competitors
and suppliers alike, as well as from a local
workforce pool with specialized skills, and
service providers that cater to the specific
needs of the cluster firms. Firms in a cluster find
mutually beneficial ways to collaborate and
pool resources in ways that help the firms to
become more competitive.
order to create a business environment that
maximizes their competitiveness and growth
potential. A cluster approach to economic
development can help firms to achieve a
competitive advantage by promoting their
common interests, creating wide benefits across
interrelated Wisconsin industries – instead of
just a few firms, and can make public sector
efforts more effective in supporting economic
growth.
“Helping individual firms grow
is good, but investing our
research efforts and economic
development resources
into industry clusters is a
much smarter way to build
Wisconsin’s economy and
create new jobs. We must grow
whole chains of promising
industries, not just some of the
individual links.” – Mary Burke
Vision: Wisconsin must upgrade and modernize
its economic development policies around
our existing and emerging industry clusters in
5
Wisconsin Clusters
Wisconsin has dozens of thriving clusters already. As noted economic expert Michael Porter has
observed, we can think broadly about our industry clusters as being of two kinds: traded sectors and
local sectors. While traded industries sell products and services across regional and national borders,
local ones provide goods and services to the local market or region, with limited competition
across regions.13 Both kinds of industries are important to a healthy economy. As this analysis by
Harvard Business School’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness shows,14 these are our state’s
largest industry sectors, around which vibrant clusters continue to develop, ranked by the number of
Wisconsinites they employ:
Traded Sectors
Source: Prof. Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School, www.isc.hbs.edu; U.S. Cluster Mapping Project,www.clustermapping.us, Richard Bryden,
Project Director
6
Local Sectors
Source: Prof. Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School, www.isc.hbs.edu; U.S. Cluster Mapping Project,www.clustermapping.us, Richard Bryden,
Project Director
How we get there: 7-steps to creating jobs by
growing Wisconsin industry clusters
As Governor, I will realign the state’s economic
development efforts around core and emerging
industry clusters. Industry clusters are a wellestablished and proven source of competitive
advantage.15 The concept of clusters as an
economic strength has been acknowledged
since the 1890’s but has been modernized as
an innovation-centered economic development
model relevant to the 21st Century in the work of
the leading global adviser on economic strategy,
Michael Porter of Harvard University.
This plan does not attempt to define the specific
business strategies for clustered sectors such as
clean tech, energy, financial services, or others.
Rather, the state’s economic development
activities are refocused around strengthening
our clusters’ capacity to organize and maximize
their resources to become more competitive.
The most effective strategies for the growth of
each of our diverse clusters will be identified
and developed by industries themselves in
partnership with cluster organizations.
In the Strategies and Tactics that follow, I
address all the other elements of our economic
development policy that flow from a cluster
strategy:
? Education and workforce training (Strategy 2);
? Science and technology infrastructure (Strategy
3);
? Business attraction (Strategy 4);
? Export promotion (Strategy 4); and,
? Quality communities and essential
infrastructure (Strategy 5).
But I start, here, under Strategy 1, with our
programs specifically for supporting cluster
strategies. These will include:
7
1. Strengthen partnerships among
companies and local industry associations
to drive a cluster-wide strategy.
As a businessperson, I know that businesses
create jobs and private sector leadership,
workers, ideas, and energy are required
to strengthen the competitiveness
of Wisconsin’s clusters. Under my
Administration, state government will
support existing cluster organizations and
initiatives, encourage new ones to form, and
organize the state’s efforts around clusters.
Steps we will take include:
?
Directing agencies to assign specific staff
to support and coordinate with individual
cluster groups/organizations.
?
Working with clusters groups/organizations
to assess the cluster’s current competitive
position and opportunities by drawing on
resources like the UW System, state experts,
and state-supported organizations.
?
Providing grants to support cluster-based
planning, organization, and joint initiatives
such as training, research, or marketing.
?
Establishing matching and accountability
requirements for cluster-based grants.
?
Creating training programs to build staff
capacity – both public and private – in
facilitation and cluster-based economic
development.
2. Bring together cluster leaders and
supporting industries in a Governor’s
Cluster Leadership Council to help steer
development strategies.
To implement a cluster-based strategy, key
industry leadership must be engaged to
oversee the effort. While each cluster will be
encouraged to form their own organizations
or associations based on their needs and the
private leadership within their industry, I will
bring together leaders from the state’s key
clusters and supporting institutions to provide
input on economic strategy and to create a
forum for clusters to articulate their needs
directly to state officials. As Governor, I will
8
personally lead these meetings along with
relevant cabinet members and agency staff.
3. Apply a cluster strategy to workforce
training.
It is also useful to think of workforce skills
in terms of clusters. In Wisconsin, five
skills clusters – network systems/software
development, accounting and finance,
nursing and healthcare, mechanical
engineering, and metal manufacturing
– drive over half of the state’s economic
output.16 Yet 1 in 10 jobs in Wisconsin’s
top five clusters cannot be filled due to a
shortage of workers with specific expertise.17
This presents both a threat to our cluster
competitiveness, and an opportunity to
engage cluster-based workforce training
partners that develop workers with essential
skills tailored to cluster demand. Specific
initiatives to align workforce development
with our cluster-based approach are
presented in more detail under Strategy 2.
4. Improve each cluster’s competitiveness by
enhancing its innovation pipeline through
R&D and technology transfer initiatives in
partnership with research institutions.
The advantages of knowledge-sharing
between research institutions and industry
is becoming increasingly apparent. As
intellectual property (produced through
innovation) continues to increase in
New Research Revolutionizes
Old Industries
Patents on two bioreactors developed at UW-Stevens Point
Institute for Sustainable Energy hold the key to efficiently
converting wood and crops into biofuels, chemicals, and
new materials for the 21st Century. Private industry is now
investing in these technologies, which have the potential
to reinvigorate and redefine Wisconsin’s traditional paper
industry, by using the same inputs to make new and better
products more cost-effectively.http://www.jsonline.com/business/re...-dying-paper-mills-b99213308z1-248035541.html
market changes; and/or lead
cluster-wide growth initiatives.
Milwaukee’s Water Cluster
As Governor, one of my first
A good example of this type of strategy is the formation of the state’s emerging
priorities will be to ensure that
water cluster: As climate change increasingly affects weather patterns and
water resources nationally and globally, Milwaukee is becoming prominent in
Wisconsin earns a place among
the world for its concentration of expertise in water resource management and
the new federal “Manufacturing
water rights law. The Water Council, consisting of water experts from business,
Hubs,” bridging the gap
academia, and government, is already working to make the Milwaukee Region the
between applied research
world’s preeminent location for water resource research, technology, economic
and product development by
development and education. UW-Milwaukee is home to the only graduate school
bringing together companies,
of freshwater science in the world, and the Great Lakes WATER Institute, and
Marquette University is among the few law schools offering special courses in
universities and other academic
water law. Wisconsin is becoming the center of the water industry of the future.
and training institutions, and
federal agencies to co-invest
www.watercouncil.org,http://www4.uwm.edu/freshwater
in key technology areas that
encourage investment and
economic value, companies across industry
production in the U.S. With the
lines are viewing partnerships with research
help of these federal funds, we can make
institutions as valuable strategic resources.
substantial investments in our manufacturing
cluster that range from workforce training
to advanced manufacturing incubators and
5. Help industry grow and innovate by
infrastructure. Four hubs have already been
adopting new technologies, improving
created – in Youngstown, Raleigh, Detroit
productivity, and deploying advanced
and Chicago. The President has pledged to
manufacturing processes.
create 8 more such hubs.18 I’m going to fight
For example, I will work with the Wisconsin
for one to be in Wisconsin.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership
(WMEP), the Northwest Manufacturing
7. Fund cluster-based solutions.
Outreach Center (NWMOC), and technical
As Governor, I will direct funding to be
colleges to implement initiatives to
invested in the kinds of cluster-formation
strengthen manufacturing clusters. Naturally,
and promotion efforts described above.
our research universities and WMEP have
The purpose will be to help create a
important roles to play in driving industrial
business climate where all of Wisconsin’s
innovation and best practices that increase
industries can maximize their strengths and
productivity and competitiveness. Wisconsin
take advantage of shared efficiencies to
manufacturing will benefit from bridging
become world leaders in global markets.
the divide between academic research and
These funds will be distributed through
industrial progress. As a state, we should be
a competitive grant program designed to
using our economic development dollars
develop the cluster “ecosystem” – that is, the
to support and build on the work of proven
resources, infrastructure, and partnerships
leaders in the field.
that will enhance the competitiveness of our
industries. Grants will be awarded to cluster6. Support the development of centers of
based consortia, with priority given to those
excellence, research hubs, and other
proposals that would leverage private sector
intellectual or material infrastructure.
funds for the greatest impact.
Such efforts serve as long-term industry
“focal points” to offer support to an industry
cluster; help Wisconsin firms adapt to
9
Strategy 2: Close the degree gap and connect
middle-class and working people to 21st Century jobs
Background: A qualified workforce has always
been – and will continue to be – the number
one economic resource in Wisconsin. As the
Pathways to Prosperity report from Harvard’s
Graduate School of Education19 documented, 14
million job openings – nearly half of those that
shows, over the next decade, Wisconsin will
need nearly 670,000 more workers with at least
some form of post-secondary degree.23
Wisconsin’s workforce is top notch, but the
current job market is more competitive than
ever, and needed skill sets
are changing. Whether with
a 2-year or 4-year degree,
Wisconsin will need to educate
nearly 670,000 more workers
beyond high school than we
are currently on track to have,
in order to fill projected job
openings by 2025.24 If we don’t
ensure that our workforce has
access to the upgraded job
skills of the 21st Century, then
those jobs will pass us by.
Vision: Wisconsin must be
fully invested in our workforce
training and education, so that
all Wisconsinites can compete
not only in today’s job market,
but for the new jobs that will
grow our economy tomorrow.
Source:http://www.luminafoundation.org/1_no_parent_nav_bar_fix/state_work/wisconsin/
A well-educated and highly
trained workforce is also
will be filled by workers with post-secondary
critical to attract national and global employers
education – will go to people with an associate’s who need workers with the skills to transition
degree or occupational certificate. Many of
traditional industries into the 21st Century. We
these will be in “middle-skill” occupations such must link Wisconsin’s workforce training programs
as electrician, construction manager, medical
more closely with our economic development
technician and paralegal – jobs that require
initiatives – so we are training people for good
education and training beyond high school,
jobs that really exist – and attracting jobs that
but not necessarily a 4-year degree.20 More
Wisconsinites are prepared to do. To grow good
surprisingly, they can even pay more than many jobs here and keep them here, we must invest in
of the jobs held by those with a bachelor’s
the fundamentals with the following goals:
degree – in part because many 4-year degrees
? A Wisconsin workforce equipped to compete
are earned in fields with low job growth.21 In
with the most in-demand skills needed for 21st
fact, 27 percent of people with post-secondary
Century jobs;
licenses or certificates – credentials short of an
associate’s degree – earn more than the average
? Increased career focus within our high schools,
22
so that every student graduates with a plan and
bachelor’s degree recipient. As the chart above
10
an understanding of how to
actualize it;
? Greater persistence among
students who enter postsecondary courses of study
and training and who go on
to complete their degree or
credential; and
? Enhanced alignment of
workforce development
programs with the skills in
greatest demand by the job
market.
To achieve these goals,
we must forge stronger
partnerships among the
employer community, our
universities, technical colleges,
and high schools and train
workers to fill jobs that are
available now while attracting
good paying jobs in growth
industries over the long term.
Source:http://all4ed.org/articles/future-s...en-to-high-school-graduates-finds-new-report/
How we get there: 5 Steps to Investing
Wisconsin Brain Power:
Roughly two-thirds of new jobs in the next
decade will require education beyond high
school. That means preparing the workforce
of the future must start in our schools but
continue with access to higher education
and advanced technical training for the vast
bulk of the workforce, including through new
innovations in e-learning and distance learning.
Every Wisconsinite should be able to get the
training he or she needs to advance further in
the workplace – and we’ve got to do more to
keep these educated and trained workers in
Wisconsin.
1. Make higher education and skills training
more affordable.
A larger and larger share of the workforce
requires education and training beyond
high school. For many, that means advanced
technical training and certification programs
– but for a growing percentage, it means full
“Right now, a construction worker and a nurse who together make a little more
than $100,000 cannot deduct their child’s tuition to an in-state UW school or
technical college. That not only makes it harder for middle-class families to pay
for college, it makes it harder for Wisconsin to close the degree gap and create
jobs. Raising the college tuition and fees deduction to $10,424 and allowing more
middle-class families to deduct college tuition is the kind of tax cut that invests
in our workforce and builds Wisconsin’s 21st Century economy.” – Mary Burke
11
four-year college programs … and beyond.
In raw numbers, we know that Wisconsin
needs more credentialed workers and
degree-holders, but far too many people
who begin a course of study never complete
it. One of the most common reasons for
dropping out is the high cost of tuition, and
the overwhelming debt burden placed on
many students.25 We can increase college
persistence (that is, the number of students
who see the program through to completion)
by helping to make the investment in
education financially realistic for more
Wisconsinites. That’s why, as Governor, I will:
a. Work with universities and technical
colleges to increase educational capacity
and reduce cost per student. Tuition at
UW schools and other public colleges in
Wisconsin has been increasing at more
than twice the rate of inflation – in part
due to decreases in the state’s share of the
cost.26 I will work to increase state funding
for higher education, including for student
financial aid, and leverage e-learning and
distance learning to hold down costs while
increasing access.
b. Establish a first-of-its-kind authority
allowing re-financing of student loans
at no cost to taxpayers. As Governor, I
will support the creation of a student loan
refinancing authority to help qualifying
current borrowers refinance their student
loans, just like homeowners can refinance
their mortgages, so long as they stay in
Wisconsin. Thousands of student loan
borrowers are being charged interest rates
up to 12 percent – higher than the rates
they might pay on a mortgage, business
loan, or even a used car. Lower interest
rates help to make education more
affordable and to alleviate the massive
debt burden of over 753,000 student loan
borrowers in Wisconsin.27 More money in
the pockets of Wisconsin’s students and
families also means more money being
spent in Wisconsin’s economy.
c. Make student loan payments tax
deductible. I support making student
loan payments deductible from state
12
taxes, just as you can currently deduct
college expenses, resulting in individual
tax savings of approximately $179 for
the typical borrower or as much as $531
annually.28
d. Raise the college tuition deduction from
$6,943 to $10,424 (average amount of instate fees and tuition for UW-Madison)
and allow middle-class families making up
to $150,000 to use this deduction to help
pay for in-state tuition and fees.
e. Allow more flexibility in the UW System
and the Wisconsin Technical College
Systems to rapidly adjust to industry
and workforce needs. While we need a
workforce development strategy that is
aligned with our economic development
goals, this does not imply a one-size-fitsall workforce development solution for the
entire state. In order to effectively partner
with the local employer community,
educational and training institutions
must be empowered to take the initiative
to identify, fund, and tailor their own
programs to specific local workforce
needs, and to be responsive and relevant
to local employers.
f. Strengthen transferability to make
it easier for students to take basic
requirements at technical colleges and
to transfer those credits. Our university
and college systems have made great
progress in aligning requirements for
course work to make transferring credits
easier. However, each UW institution
typically sets its own testing and grading
policies that govern when credit can be
awarded – resulting in inconsistencies
about which credits may be transferable
to different UW schools.29 We can better
serve students by creating a uniform
policy across our state’s institutions,
guaranteeing that a student earning credits
at technical colleges can have that course
work transferred to a four-year college or
university. Full transferability of credits
between public institutions – particularly
from our technical colleges and the
state’s universities – will assist not only
in reducing expenses associated with
repeating courses but also the time and
money lost taking courses that are not
recognized for credit between institutions.
g. Focus workforce development and training
initiatives on creating career pathways
that build on successively stacking
credentials as workers progress along the
path. We must build on current efforts to
establish a stackable, modular educational/
training credit system that supports lifelong
learning and acknowledges the real-life
demands of adults who are working and
raising families.
2. Create more rigorous career pathways,
starting in high school.
Improving the quality of K-12 education
means making sure every student graduates
from high school job- or college-ready, with
a career plan in place. We must do this by
supporting public education, and creating
new partnerships between K-12 schools, tech
colleges, the UW System and businesses, so
that students develop the skills they need to
compete for the jobs of the future.
Century careers – a lack of counseling in
secondary schools oriented to vocational
preparation, a lack of rigorous programs
combining secondary education with job
preparation, and an obsolete cultural bias
in our society against vocational training
because of its historical separation from
higher learning.30 To address these issues,
we must:
• Enhance the Career Pathways Initiative.
This initiative, offered through the
Wisconsin Technical College System,
in a partnership with the Department
of Workforce Development called RISE
(Regional Industrial Skills Education),31
enables Wisconsin high school students
to begin training for a high-wage, highgrowth career before they graduate
from high school by taking a series of
progressively more advanced courses in a
particular area – like electronics, computer
programming, allied health or engineering.
Career Pathways programs blend academic
science, technology, engineering and math
coursework with cutting-edge vocational
training to give students both the
knowledge and the know-how to compete
in the new economy.32 Students complete
the regular high school curriculum, but
they also have the opportunity to take
specialized college courses in their “career
path” or professional discipline, creating
a seamless pathway from high school to a
credential or further education.
• Introduce students to Wisconsin
occupational clusters and provide
opportunities like virtual job shadows
and other ways for students to learn about
different careers – and the education and
training required to succeed in them.
As Governor, I will:
a. Redesign high school offerings to foster
next-generation career and technical
education planning and programs. The
Harvard Graduate School of Education
report points to three current impediments
to preparing high school students for 21st
• Expand internships and experiential
learning in targeted skill sets. We
must encourage employers to engage
the education system earlier to align
internships, apprenticeships, dual
enrollment opportunities, and applied
learning programs with in-demand skills.
• Create career-focused academies within
our high schools. These academies are
13
The La Crosse Health Science Academy
La Crosse School District in Wisconsin is home to a careerfocused “academy” that offers academic and skills-based
courses from the perspective of a career in the health sciences
– an important source of employment in the community. Created
in an industry partnership with Gunderson Lutheran Medical
Center Health System and the Health Science Consortium,
the academy makes special courses available to juniors and
seniors from area high schools, as well as opportunities for jobshadowing, mentorships, student research, and internships.http://www.lacrosseschools.com/se3bin/clientgenie.cgi?G5button=1346
proven models for combining a high
school curriculum that prepares students
for college, with a career field-specific
focus for interested students, that would
give them a leg up on the knowledge and
skills they need to pursue a career in that
field, or even to decide whether a field
is right for them. Evaluations of careerfocused academies have shown positive
impacts on high school attendance,
credits earned, grade point averages,
and graduation rates.33 They also have
demonstrated a positive effect on students’
postsecondary opportunities, including
increased college attendance and
increased earnings.34
• Train school counselors to prepare
students for the workforce. Highschool counselors are on the front lines
of preparing and guiding our future
workforce. They must be involved in
facilitating a new emphasis on career paths
Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program
Under this voluntary program, high school juniors and seniors
can complete up to 900 hours of work-based education and
training in a variety of fields with participating employers. Over
75 percent of participants go on to enroll in a technical college
or university and over 60 percent complete the degrees; far
higher than the national average. Furthermore, over 85 percent
of graduates are employed after leaving high school, and 98
percent of participating employers recommend the program.https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/youthapprenticeship/
14
as our workforce development strategy
evolves. This means they need access
to the most current information about
workforce opportunities, high-growth jobs,
and what is required to enter those fields,
so they can effectively guide high school
students toward careers with promising
futures.
b. Expand the Wisconsin Youth
Apprenticeship Program to make workbased and experiential learning in
targeted skill sets available in all school
districts. Wisconsin has one of the most
successful youth apprenticeship programs
in the country, but it is not available to
enough of our youth who could benefit
from it. With a nationally renowned
program in our state, we should do more
of what we know works and invest in
making this opportunity available to
significantly more Wisconsin high school
students.
c. Create stronger partnerships between
the educational system and Wisconsin
businesses to ensure we are developing
essential, in-demand career skills. We
must do more to engage the private sector
and our labor community to coordinate
with workforce development efforts
between universities, community colleges,
vocational-technical schools, and high
schools, and to develop a workforce
with more relevant, in-demand skills.
The Governor’s Talent Council (described
further in Section 3 below) will serve as
a proactive liaison between high schools,
higher education, and businesses to
facilitate the following actions:
• Reaching out to more employers to
introduce them to the advantages of
offering apprenticeships.
• Involving more employers in curriculum
development for dual enrollment
opportunities, industry and skill
certifications, and applied learning
programs.
• Encouraging businesses, especially those
in advanced STEM-related fields or target
clusters, to host both career-oriented and
subject-matter field trips – and to provide
summer work and learning opportunities
for both students and teachers to gain the
latest in-the-field knowledge.
• Engaging local businesses with the high
school career academies we will create
across the state.
3. Upgrade skills training for 21st Century
jobs.
Job training and education are no longer just
for young people. Most workers nowadays
must continually upgrade their skills for new
jobs and new opportunities. We need to
ensure that traditional job training programs
augment the foundation we provide through
our education systems, by providing the
highest-quality, on-going options. My
Administration will:
a. Establish a new Wisconsin Talent
Development Fund to invest in a worldclass system of workforce training
organized around 21st Century Skills –
not just individual job descriptions.
• The allocation of resources from the
Wisconsin Talent Development Fund
will be for the alignment of locally based
workforce, educational, and economic
development strategies, and will reflect the
state’s economic development priorities.
• The Fund will be administered by the
Governor’s Talent Council. This Council
will merge the current Governor’s Councils
on Workforce Investment and Workforce
and College Readiness into one entity
tasked with developing recommendations
for policies and programs to improve
college- and career-readiness, in alignment
with our industry clusters.
• The results of programs and initiatives
receiving Talent Development funds
will be assessed on an ongoing basis,
with distribution adjusted accordingly
in support of the changing economic
development climate.
The Work Wisconsin Regional Training
Partnership (WWRTP/Big STEP) is a
501(c)(3) nonprofit workforce training
organization with a Center of Excellence
that currently partners with employer
groups, community groups, and state
agencies to facilitate job training and
opportunities for youth and adults.35
We need more people engaged in
programs like this. My Administration
will provide skilled apprenticeship grants
to help ensure that employees have the
skills employers want in a wide range
of industries, including manufacturing,
construction, and all our target clusters.
c. Create workforce supply and demand
forecasts based on skills clusters. We
will assign an economist to work with
each cluster to develop a comprehensive
talent supply and demand projection
for Wisconsin that examines the skills
required by the state’s employer groups,
and focuses on aligning and advancing
modern skills clusters with these groups.
d. Provide customized workforce training
for businesses considering expanding
or relocating to Wisconsin. We need
a customized, “on-demand” training
program – coordinated through the
technical college system – to provide
specific businesses with the workforces
Movin’ Out
Wisconsin is among the top 10 states
for people moving out, according to the
annual survey from United Van Lines,
with 55% or so moves involving the state
being classified as “outbound.” As the
State Department of Administration has
reported, “In Wisconsin, recent decades
have been marked by … out-migration
in the post-college cohorts ages 20-24
and 25-29 (sometimes through 30-34).”
“Wisconsin’s Future Population. Projections for the State, Its Counties and
Municipalities, 2010-2040.” Wisconsin Department of Administration Demographic
Services Center. December 2013.
b. Get more people into apprenticeships.
15
they need on a quick-turnaround basis, as
well as longer-term continuous training
for a firm’s existing workers, rather than
making businesses navigate various
training programs that are fragmented and
disconnected from each other.
4. Stop the Brain Drain.
When businesses – especially those with
high-growth and high-wage potential –
look at where to start or move these days,
a main consideration is whether they
will have reliable access to a large pool
of the educated and skilled workers they
want in any given location. Educating and
training today’s and tomorrow’s workforce
is essential – but keeping them here in
Wisconsin is just as important. We need
nearly 670,000 more degreed workers in
Wisconsin over the next dozen years to meet
projected employer needs. We’re not going
to meet that objective if the bright minds
we send to our universities and technical
colleges then leave our state because they
can’t find the career opportunities – or
quality of life – they seek.
To ensure that our communities remain
vibrant and our economy strong, I will:
a. Make Wisconsin the place college grads
want to come to and stay. We can’t
afford to let our state’s top export be
talent. Studies show a disproportionate
out-migration of UW grads, especially in
engineering.36 There’s a range of things
we can do to make it more likely that
college grads will stay where they’ve been
educated:
• College graduates move primarily to seek
the best job opportunities. Wisconsin can
retain more recent college graduates by
building stronger ties between colleges and
local employers. One way to do it: expand
internship and cooperative learning
opportunities in partnership with local
companies, providing work experience
for students, lowering recruiting costs for
employers, and enhancing the reputation
of our terrific colleges and universities.
16
• Develop an online statewide database for
internships through a joint effort between
the state government, our colleges and
universities, and the business community.
• Ensure that college placement offices offer
robust services and provide linkages with
Wisconsin businesses.
• Strengthen dialogue and partnerships
between colleges and Wisconsin
employers to ensure that student
preparation is aligned with workforce
needs and that, by graduation, links have
already been formed between the right
graduates and the right employers.
• Offer financial incentives as inducements
to college graduates to stay here. As I
proposed earlier in this plan, we will make
college loan payments tax deductible for
those who stay and build their futures in
Wisconsin.
• Invest in Wisconsin’s quality of life in order
to entice the next generation of ambitious
young people to stake their claim here. This
means investing in the things that make
our communities vibrant places to live and
work – from ensuring marriage equality
to increasing access to broadband and
accessible transportation to the arts and
culture. This element of my plan is detailed
further below, in Strategy 5.
b. Help highly skilled international
students to stay in Wisconsin after they
graduate. As many as 40 percent of
graduate students in science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) fields
are here on student visas.37 Studies
have shown that for every 100 foreignborn workers added to the economy in
STEM fields, another 262 new jobs were
created for native U.S. workers.38 When
we educate foreign students here, they
become assets. We benefit from keeping
them here where they make our state
more competitive and help to grow our
economy.
5. Make work pay by raising the minimum
wage and reinstating equal pay laws.
a. As Governor, I will support phasing in a
minimum wage of $10.10 in three stages
over two years to help working families
make ends meet, reduce dependence
on government assistance and to spur
demand that grows our local economy.
The time has come to make honest work
pay a living wage and to lift hard working
families out of poverty. Here’s why:
• Large and small business owners across
the state who I talk to support this and
realize it means less employee turnover
and more money to fuel our economy.
• The minimum wage in Wisconsin is $7.25
an hour; that is 31 percent lower than the
real value of the minimum wage in 1968.39
• The 21 states with a higher minimum
wage than Wisconsin all have higher
projected job growth than our state, with
the exception of Maine.40
• Today, the average minimum wage earner
provides half of the total income for his or
her family; the Wisconsinites who would
directly benefit would also be the most
likely to spend any additional income
immediately in their local communities
– on groceries, clothing, and other
necessities – creating an instant boost in
in-state economic activity, which in turn
creates jobs.41
b. Reinstate Wisconsin’s 2009 Equal Pay
Enforcement Act. Wisconsin is just one
of five states (the others are: Alabama,
Mississippi, South Carolina, and Utah)
without an equal pay law protecting
workers from gender discrimination in
their paycheck. Wisconsin passed such a
law in 2009, The Equal Pay Enforcement
Act, but it was repealed in a bill signed by
Governor Walker in 2012. In Wisconsin in
2012, the median salary of a woman who
works full time, year-round was $36,535,
or 78 percent of a man’s median salary
of $46,898.42 Women and men alike are
supporting families and deserve to be
compensated fairly for their work and
expertise.
17
Strategy 3: Invest in the ideas and entrepreneurs who
will create the next generation of growth businesses.
Background: New businesses and small business
expansions are essential to economic growth –
and they’re particularly central to Wisconsin’s
economy. Every giant corporation was once a
small startup – and, in Wisconsin, nearly all of
our largest Wisconsin-based businesses got their
start right here in the Badger State … and stayed.
That’s why entrepreneurship matters so much to
our state’s long-term future.
Wisconsin ranks 48 th of 50
states in new business startups.
And in the short-term, small- and medium-sized
businesses have been hiring new employees
at a faster rate than large companies since the
beginning of the economic recovery in 2009.43
But the Ewing Kaufman Foundation ranked
Wisconsin 48th in new business starts.45
Successful entrepreneurship requires a good
idea and a strong work ethic. But it also requires
capital to finance its development, and technical
and management skills to prosper. In today’s
economic climate, many small business owners
18
“My father started Trek Bicycle in
a barn in Waterloo. I helped build
it into a global brand employing
nearly 1,000 people here in
Wisconsin. So can we really create
thousands of jobs from small
businesses? The fact is, that’s how
Wisconsin has always succeeded,
building businesses and jobs from
the ground up.” – Mary Burke
– especially first-time entrepreneurs – find it
almost impossible to borrow the money they
need to start or grow their business in Wisconsin.
In spite of our world-class institutions of higher
learning and research, some promising ventures
to come out of Wisconsin seek greener pastures
where they can find startup funding.46
Vision: We should make Wisconsin one
of the best states in the U.S. for innovative
entrepreneurship – which is the biggest driver of
job growth across the board. Making Wisconsin
more entrepreneur-friendly means attracting
more of the capital that businesses – especially
startups – need to compete and thrive. It means
making sure our state stands at the cuttingedge of scientific research and development.
And it means turning those discoveries into the
products, services, and companies that will fuel
the economy of the future. We will improve
access to capital for innovative young companies
with potential for growth, create a business
environment that promotes new ventures and
attracts talent, foster the search for knowledge
and innovation, and accelerate the transfer
of technology from our world-class research
institutions to the market.
How we get there: Attract ideas and capital
to entrepreneurs and small businesses, and
connect research to real-world companies.
1. Boost capital investment in Wisconsin.
Small Businesses are a Big Deal
According to the Small Business Administration, small
businesses account for 65 percent of net new privatesector jobs, and young companies are among the biggest
job creators. Research shows that businesses between
one and ten years old create nearly 40% of net new jobs.http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/sbfaq.pdfhttp://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20
reports%20and%20covers/2012/11/bds_report_7.pdf
a. Establish a Small Business Capital Access
Program to encourage banks and other
lenders to lend more to new small
businesses not covered by venture capital
funding and angel tax credits. While
small businesses are a key driver of new
job creation, too many small and startup
businesses cannot access the capital
they need to expand in Wisconsin. My
Administration will establish a capital
access program to help fill gaps in the
lending market not served by financial
institutions or the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA), which encourages
lenders to make loans available to qualified
small businesses – particularly those that
lack significant credit history – for startup
and working capital lines of credit. Access
to capital for startups and small businesses
will be a top priority for the Governor’s
Cluster Leadership Council.
b. Increase funding for venture capital
investments and broaden the current
program. Wisconsin lags behind our
neighbors in in capital investment in new
ventures – and is far behind leading states.
In 2012, for instance, there was $95.2
million in venture capital investment in our
state47 – well under half that of Michigan
($242 million)48 or Minnesota ($225.6
million),49 and only about one-eighth
the amount invested in Illinois ($746.1
million).50 And we can’t even begin to
compare with leading states like California,
with nearly $15 billion in venture capital
investment.51 We need to do more if we’re
going to build a more entrepreneurial
economy in Wisconsin. As Governor, I will
quadruple our state’s venture capital fund
from $30 million to $120 million over four
years. I will use this to attract another $250
million in private funding on the same
terms as private investors.
c. Eliminate the ban that prevents Wisconsin’s
Venture Capital Fund from investing in the
life sciences. Wisconsin’s Venture Capital
Fund is currently disallowed from investing
in biotech – even though the University of
Wisconsin-Madison is one of the leading
research institutions in the world, and gets
over half of its over $1 billion in research
funding for life sciences.52
d. Expand the Angel Investor Tax Credit.
Under the Act 255 Angel Investor Tax
Credit program, an individual investor can
claim a 25 percent income tax credit on
the total amount invested in a qualified
new business venture (QNBV).53 This
program, enacted under former Governor
Jim Doyle, led to explosive growth in
early-stage investing in our state – from
$67 million in 2005, the year the credit
was enacted, to $103 million the next year,
and then a further leap to $147 million
in 2007.54 In 2012 the credit helped raise
$164.7 million for Wisconsin startups.55
There’s even more we can do to expand
by making the credit both transferable and
refundable.
e. Create a nonprofit to hold equity in
startups. The state is regularly asked to
support firms with high growth potential
through grants or low-interest loans. These
firms are often capital-constrained despite
their explosive growth potential and yet the
taxpayer doesn’t directly share the upside
when they are successful. By creating a
19
non-profit entity to hold equity in these
companies, the state can provide earlystage capital to high-potential companies
and grow a revolving fund to expand
our ability to help promising companies.
And by investing alongside professional
investors (in a sidecar fashion), the
state can rely on the due diligence,
technological evaluation, and equity
pricing of private sector experts.
f. Fight for responsible capital investment,
not “state-certified capital companies”
(CAPCOs). While Wisconsin needs
forward-thinking ideas to attract venture
capital to our state, I firmly oppose
“seeding” private capital firms with state
money. No matter how lobbyists continue
to repackage this strategy, Wisconsin
does not need to repeat the wasteful
mistakes of the past. That approach, while
profitable for a few capital firms, resulted
in the creation of a total 202 jobs for a
$50 million investment. At $247,000
per job, CAPCOs – state-certified capital
companies – are not a strategy we will
revisit on my watch.56
2. Ramp up our culture of entrepreneurship.
a. Include entrepreneurship education in
the state’s K-12 and college curricula.
Entrepreneurship education should be
available and incorporated into the
mainstream curriculum at our public
universities for students of all disciplines –
not just business students. We should also
be introducing entrepreneurial concepts as
early as elementary school – and provide
entrepreneurship skills courses for high
school students as part of an enhanced
career pathways curriculum.
b. Expand the Wisconsin Governor’s
Business Plan Contest – now a decade
old – to highlight the potential and
accomplishments of more new and
launching Wisconsin companies by:
• Doubling the amount available for prizes.
• Establishing new business plan award
categories for:
20
- Women- and minority-owned companies.
- Each of the state’s unique economic
development regions.
- Young entrepreneurs under 18.
- Technology-related solutions in all
clusters identified in our state economic
development strategy – including
agriculture, wood and paper, tourism,
food processing, and traditional
manufacturing – not just high-tech sectors
like advanced manufacturing, clean tech,
IT, business services, and life sciences.
• Expanding the assistance available to
include funding from our augmented
Wisconsin Venture Capital Fund – the kind
of help innovative startups need to stay and
grow in Wisconsin.
Some Wisconsin Entrepreneurial
Success Stories:
Started Here, Grew Here
Johnson Controls Inc. – Glendale,
Manpower Inc. – Milwaukee,
Kohl’s Corp. – Menomonee Falls
Oshkosh Corp. – Oshkosh,
Harley?Davidson Inc. – Milwaukee
Northwestern Mutual – Milwaukee
S.C. Johnson & Sons – Racine
American Family Insurance – Madison
U.S. Venture, Inc. – Appleton
Kohler Co. – Kohler
ABC Supply – Beloit
Menard’s – Eau Claire
Epic Systems – Madison
c. Build capacity in entrepreneurial
organizations. Wisconsin should support
the enterprising new organizations
that are already taking the initiative to
lead, train and mentor startups, helping
them to get off the ground and attract
investors. Wisconsin should use economic
development funds to scale up the
proven programs of groups like gener8tor,
BizStarts Milwaukee, and Wisconsin
Women’s Business Initiative Corporation
(WWBIC), which are active in coaching
startups – including women – and
minority-owned businesses – connecting
them with investors, and facilitating
programs and events to support and
accelerate their growth.
d. Establish a Wisconsin Connections
program to facilitate partnerships and
customer relationships between startups
and established Wisconsin companies.
Sometimes more important than capital
is landing that first big customer who
can lend legitimacy to your products
and services. We have great Wisconsin
companies that can act as mentors in this
effort, something that can be facilitated
through the clusters outlined in Strategy 1.
e. Provide state matching funds for federal
Small Business Innovation Research
(SBIR) and Small Business Technology
Transfer (STTR) grants. The Small Business
Innovation Research program funds
small businesses that undertake R&D
on innovative technologies with high
potential for commercialization. Through
a highly competitive award program, SBIR
selects small companies, often startups, to
receive funding to propel their innovations
into viable, profitable ventures. Many
states – but not Wisconsin – offer state
matching funds for the recipients of SBIR
and STTR grants. These funds can help
in part to close the perilous funding gap
that exists between Phases I and II of SBIR
financing – a period during which many
promising ventures fail due to lack of
capital.
f. Create an Entrepreneur in Residence
Program that will bring seasoned CEO’s
with successful startup experience to
university campuses in order to help
identify the most likely commercial
prospects from university intellectual
property inventories.
3. Translate research and development into
startups.
a. Focusing on turning university research
into Wisconsin companies. Great
American universities have become “idea
factories” that are churning out new
businesses. Dozens, if not hundreds, of
ventures have been created out of the UW
System and other research organizations,
but we need to supercharge this effort. I
will lead the effort to get the ideas from
the bench-top to the business world.
Research We Can Build On
Wisconsin is proud to be home to University
Research Park (URP) at Madison, which houses
125 companies and employs nearly 4,000 workers
on the cutting-edge of technological innovation.
Forbes Magazine recently named URP as one of
“12 business incubators changing the world.”
Institutions like these attract millions of dollars in
growth-oriented federal and private investments
to Wisconsin. Wisconsin must continue to build on
and replicate shining successes like URP as we
grow the impact of our other research hubs, such
as the Milwaukee Technology Innovation Center,
Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, and the
Children’s Hospital of Fox Valley.http://universityresearchpark.org/newsroom/
I’ll start by building on initiatives like
the new D2P, or Discovery to Product,
program,57 a partnership between UWMadison and the Wisconsin Alumni
Research Foundation (WARF). D2P
was established to spin research and
ideas from students and faculty into
new companies.
I will establish a Wisconsin Innovation
Fund focused exclusively on turning
innovative research into cutting-edge
products and businesses. The Fund
will target our universities’ traditional
strengths: physical sciences and
engineering; agriculture; medical
21
devices; computer science; information
technology; and drug development.
b. Allow the University of Wisconsin to
participate in classified government
research. The UW System is currently
prohibited from conducting top secret
or classified research. This limits the
federal funding that our research facilities
are eligible for, and costs our state jobs,
investment, and future opportunities in
cutting-edge technologies. As Governor, I
would sign legislation to remove this band,
and I would work to pursue valuable
classified research opportunities.
22
c. Veto any legislation banning stem cell
research. If we are to fully leverage our
world-renowned scientific resources
in growing our economy, and attract
top scientists to make world-changing
discoveries at our academic institutions, we
must once and for all assure the scientific
community that researchers will not be held
hostage to politics – or they will take their
valuable work to another state. I will veto
any legislation that would tie the hands of
scientists who are using stem cell research
to pursue life-saving treatments and to
improve the lives of people living with
debilitating conditions, from paralysis to
Parkinson’s disease.
Strategy 4: Position Wisconsin to be highly competitive
in the global marketplace.
Background: Wisconsin has what it takes to be
highly competitive, not only with other states, but
with other countries. Exports are critical to state
economies and Wisconsin’s is no exception – but
“Wisconsin workers and manufacturers
and technology companies can compete
with anyone in the world. But to compete
and win, we can’t rest on our laurels. Our
state has to be far more aggressive in
promoting Wisconsin manufacturers and
technology companies and growing our
relationships in the global marketplace.”
Source:http://www.slcatlanta.org/
news/research.php?post_id=50
– Mary Burke
we have much greater potential for growth. In
2013, we exported $23 billion worth of goods
– slightly less (0.2 percent) than we exported in
2012 – to trading partners like Canada, Mexico,
China, Japan and Germany.58 If our exports had
just grown at the national average, according to
the US Department of Commerce we would have
generated over 5,000 more jobs since 2010.59
Our exports include $6.8 billion in industrial
machinery, $2.3 billion in medical and scientific
instruments, $2.2 billion in electrical machinery
and $1.9 billion in vehicles. Our manufacturing
and agricultural resource intense economy, along
Slow Export Growth
Wisconsin manufactured exports have grown
more slowly than those of our nation as a
whole since 2009. This is a red flag that we
need to be doing more to remain competitive.http://www.nam.org/~/media/E1E5CB388C704F3EABCCB0F52C8E5211.ashx
http://inwisconsin.com/exporting/wisconsin-export-data/
with our internationally accessible location, gives
us a natural advantage in exports with industrial
machinery, vehicles, farm products, electrical
machinery and medical equipment leading the
way. In fact, we are currently the third largest dairy
export state in the U.S., exporting nearly $282
million in dairy products.60 61 62
Selling great Wisconsin products overseas worked
for Trek – and I know it can work for companies
all across Wisconsin. By making smart investments
in sales and distribution abroad, we were able to
grow Trek’s European sales from $3 million to $50
million annually in just a few short years. Ensuring
that other companies have the supports needed to
23
sell internationally will help this bright spot in our
economy flourish.
Vision: We need to grow an economy in
Wisconsin that aggressively pursues global
opportunities and is attractive to international
investment. We must look for opportunities
beyond our state borders, exporting more of our
goods and services to other states while growing
markets around the world.
How we get there: Build on our manufacturing
and technology muscle and compete
worldwide.
1. Expand export-led growth.
When Wisconsin companies export products
from our state to foreign markets, and when
capital flows into Wisconsin from outside
our borders, it creates wealth and new jobs.
a. Executive-level commitment to export
growth. High-profile promotion of a
state export strategy should come from
the Governor’s office to ensure that
the activities of the state’s economic
development agencies are in alignment
with the overarching export promotion
strategy, and that exports are a strong
component of Wisconsin’s cluster-led
development strategy. As a high-level
state priority, efforts to consolidate
broad-based cooperation among private
and institutional partners will be more
effective, as will media attention to
heighten awareness of new opportunities –
especially among first-time exporters.
b. Launch a Wisconsin Export Fund to
fund forward-looking proposals that are
designed to help Wisconsin enterprises
become even more globally competitive.
Development funds will be awarded to
implement the best plans proposed by
state agencies, cluster-based organizations,
public-private partnerships, or private
economic development organizations
involved in exports from any sector, on a
competitive basis.
c. Expand our state’s overseas marketing
efforts. My Administration will not only
24
increase overseas marketing efforts where
there is untapped potential, but will
also develop performance standards for
our field offices to better measure the
state’s return on investment in its export
assistance program.
d. Provide localized, comprehensive early-stage
assistance to Wisconsin-based companies
to increase exports. We will create trade
alliances and a unified strategy that
leverages existing export promotion groups
and simplifies the process of navigating
these resources – such as dedicated export
counseling assistance for companies and
cluster-based organizations that may be
exploring exporting opportunities for the first
time. Export resources must be coordinated
and leveraged to:
• Proactively identify businesses and
industry clusters with significant untapped
export potential.
• Launch a statewide campaign to
increase commercial awareness of export
opportunities and resources, including
federal and private export finance
programs, and technical training for export
managers.
• Engage and assist cluster-based
organizations to integrate a robust export
program into their growth strategy.
• Connect businesses to export opportunities
by expanding access to and promotion of
trade programs and events that connect
U.S. sellers and foreign buyers.
• Market export assistance to businesses that
are not traditional exporters. Discounts
and promotions can be made available
for new or potential exporters to attend
informational seminars or training sessions.
2. Bring foreign manufacturing back to
Wisconsin.
”Offshoring” (or “outsourcing”) American
manufacturing jobs to other localities
where labor is cheaper has been the dismal
trend for over thirty years. But today, many
companies are beginning to realize that
moving their manufacturing and supply
operations overseas has hurt their ability to
serve their customers. A recent survey of
manufacturers with operations abroad found
that well over half (61%) were considering
“reshoring” – or “in-sourcing” – their
manufacturing operations back to the U.S.
to be closer to their customers, to provide
better service, and to cut transportation costs.
Nearly half of these manufacturers (49%)
reported that overseas they experienced
problems with delivery time, operations,
planning, flexibility, and total cost – and 46%
experienced quality control issues.63 Rising
energy and fuel costs are also encouraging
businesses to bring production home. But
there is no lack of competition to attract these
companies.
As Governor, I will launch a Wisconsin INSourcing Initiative (WIN) that will specialize
in recruiting (and retaining) manufacturers
back from abroad by:
a. Launching a WIN Team, a committee of
economic development professionals
that serves as a single point of contact
for businesses considering locating or
expanding in Wisconsin. The team will
work with manufacturing businesses
– especially those with international
production sites – to introduce them to the
many advantages that Wisconsin can offer
to meet their specific business needs.
b. Streamlining access to financial assistance
for manufacturers. The WIN Team
will consolidate all available financial
assistance for manufacturing companies
from state and other sources, with the
ability to offer loans, loan guarantees, and
equity financing, and to make referrals
to appropriate private investment groups
to finance the relocation or expansion of
operations to Wisconsin.
c. Working with manufacturers to identify
their important suppliers who could also
be relocated to the state – this will have
the added benefit of making our state
more attractive to manufacturers and also
lowering costs and increasing efficiency
for our existing companies – bringing even
more new jobs to Wisconsin.
3. Leverage our existing international
relationships.
a. Leverage academic relationships. We will
work with our institutions of higher learning
to institute a formal program to identify
investment and export opportunities in
targeted clusters through the associations
and contacts of our universities’ research
faculty.
b. Expand trade opportunities through our
immigrant communities. Immigrantowned companies may be an untapped
resource in generating new export-led
economic activity in Wisconsin. We
should develop a “Heartland-to-Homeland”
Trade Consortium for immigrant-owned
companies to help entrepreneurial-minded
immigrants in Wisconsin to promote trade
with their homelands that create new jobs
and wealth in Wisconsin.
c. Invest in International and Language
Education. We must integrate a strong
international component into all of our
business programs at our state universities
and colleges. In the 21st Century, virtually
every business has the potential to compete
internationally and business leaders who
understand this well – and who can speak
a second language fluently – have an
advantage in the global economy. Language
study and international exchanges should
be incorporated as mainstream parts of our
business education curricula.
d. Promote the benefits of a Wisconsin
education – and a Wisconsin business
degree in particular – to international
students. Enhancing Wisconsin’s
attractiveness to foreign students yields a
short-term boost to the economy through full
tuition payments and other in-state spending,
and also lays the groundwork for future
export ventures. A special emphasis should
be placed on Wisconsin’s top-notch business
programs, where the connections that foster
international trade are often formed.
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Strategy 5: Create a climate to grow jobs and a
high-quality workforce.
Background: Wisconsin needs to invest in creating
the proper environment for businesses to thrive
and grow from within. This means making
government effective, efficient, and accountable.
It also means building needed economic
infrastructure to support business growth. But
most of all it means building the kinds of vibrant
communities – whether in dense urban cores
or rural areas – that will attract and retain the
hard-working and high-skilled young people
who represent our future. These are the people
businesses want to employ. If we don’t invest in
making sure that Wisconsin remains a good place
to live, work, and raise a family, then it won’t be a
vibrant place to grow a business either.
Vision: We can ensure Wisconsin is a great place to
live, work, and grow a business by making the right
investments and building the physical and virtual
connections that strengthen our communities as
well as our businesses. We must hold the line on
taxes so that businesses and private citizens can
put their money to work in their own communities
to build the dreams they are working toward. We
need to invest in the infrastructure that business
and communities rely on, like high-speed Internet
and transportation. And we need to re-invest in
strengthening our urban and rural communities
alike to ensure they offer the high quality of life that
young professionals and families seek in a place to
put down roots.
How we get there: 6 steps toward removing
barriers to growth and helping every part of
Wisconsin create jobs.
1. Improve our business climate.
a. Cut red tape. Excessive bureaucracy
and complicated paperwork burdens
Wisconsin businesses – especially young
companies, for whom money is scarce
and time is at a premium. One important
way we can improve Wisconsin’s business
climate is by making it more efficient for
businesses to deal with government. My
26
Administration will:
• Bring greater speed and certainty to
government permitting decisions without
sacrificing environmental and public safety
protections.
• Improve customer service for businesses
– ensuring that anytime a business has an
issue with a state agency, they can call one
number and get what they need. Great
customer service shouldn’t be limited to
Wisconsin’s best businesses – it should exist
on the part of the state too.
• Streamline regulations and the regulatory
process by making sure that rules are written
with the small business owner in mind. A
business owner should not have to hire a
lawyer and an accountant and a consultant
to understand the rules that govern his or her
business. Simplifying regulations and plain
language requirements will lower the costs
of doing business, which will be especially
signficant for small firms.
b. Identify and cut wasteful state government
spending.
• Cut needless government spending. No
businessperson believes in spending money
on things we don’t need. There are plenty of
ways to cut government spending without
cutting vital investments and services. I
will bring to state government a business
efficiency perspective, and a range of ideas
for changing how Madison works. We will:
- Institute continuous improvement
initiatives, as is standard business practice.
- Identify savings in our corrections budget
that don’t jeopardize public safety through
consolidation and contracting reforms that
improve efficiency and reduce costs.
- Encourage communities to merge and
cost-share services.
- Review vacant positions for continuing
need.
- Conduct a top-to-bottom efficiency
audit of state government to eliminate
waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency. An
efficiency commission would present a
package of savings recommendations to
the Legislature for an up or down vote to
neutralize special interests.
c. Hold the line on taxes. Now is not the time
to impose additional economic burdens on
Wisconsinites. Wisconsin’s property taxes
as a percentage of median income are 8th
highest in the country, and state and local
income taxes rates rank 14th highest.64 65
We will hold the line on overall tax levels,
while working to reduce the tax burden on
individuals, families, and businesses as our
economy and tax base grows. If Wisconsin
had been creating jobs at just the same
rate as the national average in recent years,
our state economy would be $1.9 billion
larger. The best way to generate revenues
to fund government services is to grow
the economy. And by instituting the kinds
of savings I just outlined, we’ll be able to
make the investments in economic growth
discussed in this plan, and still hold the
lines on taxes – and that’s just what I’ll do.
d. Fund the needed investments in this
Strategy. Below, I highlight different
priorities that the state and local units
of government need to address together.
From infrastructure to tourism and the
arts, we need to be smart about how we’re
investing every single public dollar. As I’ve
said, the revenues required to make these
investments won’t come from raising taxes
– they’ll come from a growing economy,
closing loopholes, and identifying savings
in government spending of things we don’t
need – so we can fund the things we do
need.
2. Invest in infrastructure.
a. Maximize federal funding available for
essential infrastructure projects. In today’s
economy, infrastructure – from broadband
to transportation – is a significant factor
in economic competitiveness and
educational effectiveness. Access to
high-speed Internet is a prerequisite for
communities in every corner of Wisconsin
to participate in technology-based
economic development and education. But
the Walker Administration turned down
a $23 million federal grant to expand
broadband to more Wisconsin schools and
libraries.66 Wisconsin ranks 22nd among
states in average broadband speed and 26th
in adoption of high-speed broadband.67
Statewide, 11.9% of households don’t
use the Internet at all – and in some
communities that percentage is much
higher.68 When Governor Walker rejected
the high-speed rail to connect Madison to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s $820 million in
federal funds for the line was given to other
states like California and Florida, to connect
their cities with high-speed rail.69 70 I will
aggressively leverage every penny of federal
funding available to build and improve our
essential infrastructure – from roads, to rail,
to Internet – or our state will be left at the
station.
b. Link our infrastructure investment
strategy to our economic development
goals, prioritizing investments by their
real economic impact – including job
creation. For example, modest investments
in improving the transportation options to
and from our airports can make more of
Wisconsin accessible to business travelers
and tourists alike – which can also make
our airports more attractive for lower-cost
carriers looking to expand their direct flight
routes. It makes sense to invest first in the
projects expected to create the greatest
economic benefit. Funding for high-impact
infrastructure projects will be prioritized
based on transparent economic analysis
of and clear metrics as to the project’s
economic value – including the economic
impact of the jobs created – and not on
inside political dealing.
c. Hold our infrastructure investments to
performance and accountability measures
for economic impact. Once we have
completed our prioritized projects, we
must then measure the results of these
investments using established economic
impact metrics for economic development
– such as jobs created, increased revenue,
27
and other measures of each project’s
explicit goals.
3. Support the building of strong regional
economies.
When we talk about Wisconsin’s economy,
we must always remember we are really
talking about many economies. The
economically diverse regions of our state are
anything but one-size-fits-all. While we have
lost jobs in Northern Wisconsin, in part due
to falling tourist receipts, jobs are growing at
a rate nearly five times the national average
in South Central Wisconsin, where the
information technology sector is vibrant.
Earnings are higher than the national and
state averages in Western Wisconsin, where
economic growth is diversified, but lagging
in Fox Valley – Northeast, even as jobs are
holding steady.71 Our strategy for statewide
prosperity must recognize and leverage
these differences, and local knowledge,
when it comes to strengthening our regional
economies.
a. Develop a Community Infrastructure
Priority Grant Program to support
transformative local projects. Economic
development organizations exist
throughout Wisconsin at the regional,
county, city and community levels, but
their potential to pursue high-impact
economic development is limited by
resources in their local area. These
groups can yield even greater impact
if they can leverage state funds, along
with private investment, in order to
implement the best ideas and economic
development initiatives for their region.
As Governor, I will empower our regional
economic development organizations
by establishing a Regional Priority Grant
Program. Economic and community
development groups or partnerships of all
sizes will compete for the funds through
a competitive RFP process, and selected
projects will be required to leverage local
and/or private funding in addition to state
funds. While statewide action is needed
to maximize the impact of a coordinated
28
cluster strategy, regional agencies are
essential to responding to the specific
conditions, opportunities, and challenges
Strengthening Community
Infrastructure Partnerships
We must empower Wisconsin’s economic
development groups that understand the
local growth potential of our regions, in order
to maximize their strengths. These groups
include (but are not limited to):
MadREP (Madison Region Economic Partnership)
The New North
Milwaukee 7
Centergy – Central Wisconsin Alliance for
Economic Development
Visions Northwest
7 Rivers Alliance
Prosperity Southwest
Grow North
faced by industries at the local level
throughout Wisconsin.
b. Promote local clusters, too, as the
backbone of our local economies. While
traded clusters representing nationally
and globally competing firms are the
focus of much attention, local clusters –
those which are geographically limited,
such as health care – account for 70
percent of U.S. employment.72 There is
significant untapped economic potential
in developing business-to-business
relationships in local clusters. For example
small, local firms that grow and develop
within local clusters in turn become
well positioned to expand into even
more profitable partnerships with larger,
corporate firms beyond the local cluster.
c. Target local areas where unemployment
is highest. I will assign a “Jobs Today”
Task Force for any county that experiences
unemployment rates above the state’s
average by 30 percent or more over a
period of one year. The Task Force will
consist of a dedicated facilitator assigned
to bring together local officials, business
leaders, and economic development
practitioners to develop a concrete action
plan for increasing employment in the
local area to the state average.
4. Leverage anchor institutions to generate
wealth in urban communities.
Universities, hospitals, foundations, industry
research centers and large employers are
examples of “anchor institutions.” Anchor
institutions provide more inner-city jobs
than any other sector, and are the number
one employer in 66 percent of U.S. innercity communities.73 Anchor institutions
employ many people directly, but they
also are powerful catalysts for creating
new wealth through small local businesses
that supply and support their operations.
They keep money working locally through
employment, and the goods and services
they purchase, contributing to new asset
growth in the neighborhood. We must
maximize the many untapped opportunities
for channeling more institutional spending
into local procurement – and the
development of thriving business clusters
around these institutions.
a. Promote the formation of communitybased businesses and cooperative
ventures by matching anchor institutions
and their local vendors with community
Business Development Partners. Anchor
institutions are hubs of local commerce
around which entrepreneurial training,
mentorship, and cooperation between
complementary businesses have proven
to be possible through the formation of
community-based cooperatives. Anchor
institutions benefit by having more
reliable, higher quality, and geographically
closer services available to them – and a
more stable workforce. I will ensure that
economic development funds are made
available for these proven models of job
and business creation.
b. Emphasize local procurement among
anchor institutions for job creation –
especially in low-income communities.
While investment in technological
innovation is a high-end, and important,
component of economic growth, less
attention has been paid to the potential
economic impact of anchor institutions
as a source of local job and wealth
creation among low-income communities.
We can further increase this impact by
encouraging that state funding for anchor
institutions be used to procure local goods
and services.
c. Involve anchor institutions in
neighborhood revitalization and
workforce housing and home ownership
programs. Anchor institutions have a
vested interest in the economic well-being
of the neighborhoods they do business
in, and in which their employees live and
work. I will direct the Wisconsin Housing
and Economic Development Authority
(WHEDA) to engage these employers
and other community development
partners to replicate proven, win-win
programs to stabilize neighborhoods
by helping employees to purchase and
improve single-family dwellings in the
neighborhood.
d. Create programs for research
collaboration and technology transfer
between anchor institutions and startup
firms that purchase and/or lease land in
adjacent areas targeted for revitalization.
Anchor institutions are often associated
with high-tech industry clusters like
bioscience, because of the potential for
research collaboration and technology
transfer at universities and hospitals.
Win-win programs such as these have led
to the creation of high-value clusters in
previously blighted areas, creating jobs in
manufacturing as well as lab work.
e. Provide expert technical assistance to
anchor institutions for the purpose of
projecting future job needs, and then
engage local technical colleges to prepare
local residents to fill these jobs.
5. Grow our rural economies.
We recently learned that Wisconsin has lost
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nearly 9,000 farms – or 11 percent of total
farms – in a period of just 5 years. Those
losses are more than double the national
average of about 4 percent.74 Wisconsin
ranks 10th among states for number of farms,
but the total acreage devoted to farming is
shrinking.75 Meanwhile the average age of
Wisconsin’s farm owner-operator is over
56 years old, while the number of farmers
under age 45 fell by over 27 percent over
the same five-year period. The loss of small
family farms is of serious concern, since
they represent the economic lifeblood and
cultural legacy of rural communities across
the state. But agriculture is not the only
business of rural Wisconsin. In addition to
the service and retail businesses that serve
rural communities, rural Wisconsin is home
30
to bedrock industries like forest products and
tourism. Strengthening our farm economy
isn’t the only thing we need to do to grow
rural Wisconsin – but it’s where we need to
start.
We must ensure that agriculture remains a
viable livelihood for the next generation of
Wisconsin family farmers, and also support
economic development that brings needed
new jobs to rural communities.
a. Ensure the long-term survival of family
farms by helping them modernize,
with the assistance of our agricultural
programs at the UW System and technical
colleges. We need to refocus the efforts of
agricultural programs at our universities
and technical colleges, along with
UW-Extension on assisting small- and
family farms to adopt modern, and even
cutting-edge, technologies, processes,
and practices to make their operations
more competitive. These institutions can
provide a wide range of support to a new
generation of small farmers to help them
to improve productivity and profitability.
Research and new technologies have
played a significant role to increase
yields and reduce costs throughout the
agricultural system. New technologies –
like GPS systems to guide farm machinery
and reduce overlap, early pest detection,
identification of soil nutrient deficiencies,
detection of plant stress, use of yield
monitoring equipment – can significantly
help farmers be more productive. Other
areas where small farm support can be
enhanced include:
• Digester technologies. New technologies
for handling livestock waste and
wastewater include anaerobic digesters
that can resolve land and water
contamination while at the same time
converting the harmful waste into a source
of renewable, locally-generated energy.76
• Organic agriculture. Wisconsin is a
leading state in organic agriculture; it is
first in organic dairy and organic beef
production, and in the top five states for
organically farmed acreage.77 Many small
farmers could benefit from technical and
financial assistance in pursuing the organic
certification process – as well as expert
guidance in tapping new growth markets,
and profiting from add-value organic
products, either directly or as a supplier.
• Creating new incubator farms. An
incubator farm, like other entrepreneurial
incubators, is a place where aspiring
farmers can have temporary, affordable
access to small parcels of land and
infrastructure, training, practice, and
mentorship for the purpose of honing skills
and launching farm businesses.78
• Expanding intern programs to provide
help to small farmers and also give
students direct agricultural education and
experience.
• Developing new programs that match
new farmers with those retiring who have
no successors interested in continuing the
family farm.
• Financing assistance programs to make
it easier and more affordable to transition
ownership of smaller farms from retiring
owner-operators to new farmers and to
modernize.
• Supporting the development of publicprivate partnerships by working to match
small farmers with business professionals
to help farmers improve management,
develop new markets plans and improve
use of risk management tools and riskreduction strategies.
b. Promote the replication of Food Hubs for
helping small farmers get their produce
to retail markets, profitably. The Food
Hub model, exemplified by the Wisconsin
Food Hub Cooperative (WFHC), helps
local farmers through marketing, sales,
aggregation, and logistics, to access
wholesale markets.79 Farmers capture a
greater share of their product’s value, and
large buyers in the retail, foodservice,
and institutional sectors have more
opportunities to buy locally – keeping
more money in our communities and
regional economies.
c. Enhance our state’s promotion of
agritourism initiatives. In Wisconsin,
agriculture is a cherished cultural asset,
as well as an economic one. We can
build upon this strength by introducing
our traditional and modern rural farmways, techniques, and lifestyle to a wider
audience through agritourism – while
marketing agricultural products and
services to new and wider markets. We
must support the efforts of the Wisconsin
Agritourism Association in our state
tourism campaigns, and engage diverse
rural communities and entrepreneurs
throughout the state. The initiative will
serve to:
• Promote Wisconsin agritourism
internationally to raise awareness among
global travelers visiting the U.S who have
31
a particular interest in rural farm-ways,
technologies, and experiences.
• Educate and train farmers and
entrepreneurs in rural communities about
opportunities in the growing agritourism
trend.
• Create opportunities for joint marketing,
to help small and rural farmers and
entrepreneurs access much wider markets.
6. Leverage federal funding for needed
investments.
Wisconsin’s federal funds gap is among the
highest in the country at $13 billion.80 81 That
means that, of the $45 billion Wisconsin
taxpayers send to the federal government
every year, only 86 cents of every dollar is
returned here in federal spending.82 We must
insist on our state getting its fair share of our
hard-earned income, and do more to win
all the federal funding available for grants
and procurement, advanced research and
economic development projects, reduce
our federal funding gap, and bring our fair
share of federal tax dollars back to our state
– beginning with acceptance of the federal
expansion of Medicaid.
My Administration will aggressively
pursue federal dollars by establishing
a Governor’s Grants Office to identify
federal grant opportunities across the
entire state. Wisconsin should pursue new
federal funding for defense, transportation,
research, social services, health care and
other industries, and continually maximize
available funding to accelerate our highwage, fast-growing advanced technology
and life sciences economies statewide –
not only at UW-Madison. Competition for
federal and private grants has increased
in the current economic climate, and a
dedicated office to ensure we qualify for
these funds has the potential to bring billions
of dollars to our state.
32
How We’ll Know We’re on the Right Track
In business, leaders are not judged on their
goals; they are not even judged by their
promises or pledges. They are judged by their
results.
Goal-setting is a first step – but it is only the first
step. What counts is how performance stacks
up against those goals in ways that can be
measured and verified objectively. As Governor,
I will put in place the tools for objective,
verifiable monitoring of our state’s progress.
In business, you have to back your claims with
facts. State government must be held to the
same standard. As Governor, I will institute a
system of performance management to ensure
not only that I am accountable to the citizens of
Wisconsin in doing my job, but also that each
and every state official and agency knows where
we stand in relation to where we want to be, and
whether their organization is on track to deliver
the results that Wisconsinites rightfully demand.
Most importantly, we will always have our eye
on exactly what the people of Wisconsin care
about most: growing our economy, expanding
opportunity, and creating jobs: When I’m
Governor, that will be our business, and I will do
it effectively, efficiently, and with accountability.
I will begin my term by creating an online
Wisconsin Jobs Dashboard that makes clear to
state officials and to every citizen exactly what
we’re measuring, and why and whether we are
on track to achieve what we set out to do – the
way that business professionals do.
To ensure we get on, and stay on, the right track
for economic prosperity, the Wisconsin Jobs
Dashboard will display measurements for:
• Rate of New Job Creation: Too many
Wisconsinites are still struggling to get back to
work, and too many young people not finding
career opportunities. It is not acceptable that
we are now creating new jobs at half the rate
of the rest of the country. If our neighbors are
outpacing us, we’re on the wrong track.
• Representative Metric(s): Wisconsin job
growth; labor force growth; Wisconsin
state ranking in job growth; and job growth
relative to neighboring states are metrics that
will also be tracked regionally across the
state, since in order for Wisconsin to thrive
all of our regions must be thriving.
• Our Measure of Success: Our goal is for
job creation to outpace the nation until our
workers catch up, and then set our sights
on becoming a thriving Top 10 Economy in
terms of job growth.
• Wage and Income Growth: Every new job
created in Wisconsin is good news. But over
time, the types of jobs being created matters to
our state and the standard of living our citizens
can expect for themselves and their families.
Wisconsin has a nearly $4,000 wage gap with
the rest of the country.83 Wisconsin needs to
make progress in creating more jobs that pay
enough to support a family.
• Representative Metric(s): Average wage; per
capita personal income; median household
income (statewide and by region).
• Our Measure of Success: Our goal is to
increase the average wage for Wisconsin
workers and work toward the longer-term
goal of exceeding the national average.
• Traded Cluster Metrics: To ensure strong job
growth and focus on our traded clusters,
Wisconsin needs to measure progress on a
cluster-by-cluster basis. Our traded clusters are
especially important because of the role they
play in driving the overall economy. We’ll track
employment, output, wages, and exports within
each cluster. While every cluster will have its
own unique dynamics, our goal is to strengthen
each cluster, capitalize on our competitive
advantages, and maximize its economic value.
• Representative Metric(s): Cluster
employment, cluster wages, cluster output,
cluster exports, cluster foreign direct
investment.
• Our Measure of Success: To outperform
the nation in as many clusters as possible
33
in both growing clusters and in fighting
to maintain jobs in historically strong but
challenged clusters.
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship Measures: We
know that innovation and entrepreneurship
play a vital role in increasing economic growth
and fostering the creation of new companies
with rapid growth potential. For too long
Wisconsin has failed to fully capitalize on
our assets. We need to track and improve our
performance by expanding and capitalizing on
our innovation and entrepreneurship potential.
• Representative Metric(s): State New
Economy Index, Kauffman Index of
Entrepreneurial Activity, patents per capita,
angel and venture capital per capita,
research spending per capita, new business
formation – identified by both traded and
local clusters.
• Our Measure of Success: Maintain
leadership in areas such as research
spending, and expand capital availability
and innovation capacity to become a leader
in commercialization and entrepreneurship.
• Workforce Strength: Business leaders,
economists, and economic development
professionals are increasingly focused on
and concerned with the availability of a
well-trained workforce. As technology and
global competition intensifies, skilled workers
increasingly make the competitive difference.
We need to significantly increase capacity and
reorient our education around employment
needs and job growth.
• Representative Metric(s): High school
graduation rates; number and percentage
of high school students with career plans,
number and percentage of population
with associate and bachelor degrees, and
professional certificates; number and
percentage of college graduates staying
in-state; employer-reported ease of hiring
employees with needed skills
• Our Measure of Success: Grow our skilled
and educated workforce to meet job needs
and compete for jobs of the future.
• State and Local Taxes and Fees: An important
part of the state’s overall economic climate
34
is the share of income that businesses and
families have to pay for government services.
We will reduce that share over time by holding
the line on taxes, making government more
efficient and growing the tax base.
• Representative Metric(s): Share of annual
income paid in combined state and local
taxes and fees by businesses and families;
national ranking on combined state and
local taxes and fees by businesses and
families;
• Our Measure of Success: Maintain an
adequate state and local tax base to
continue providing needed government
services while growing incomes to lower the
share of income paid in taxes and fees.
Together, the elements of this plan – a clearheaded assessment of where we stand today,
the interlocking strategies we need to get where
we want to be, and the metrics to manage
our way to these results and hold everyone in
government, including me, accountable – are
what we need to produce real economic growth
and job creation here in Wisconsin.
I know that this business-like approach will
work, because I’ve made it work in the business
and non-profit sectors. The difference is simply
that, if we want state government to create jobs
like a business, we most of all need a CEO who
means business. We will when I am Governor.
References
Source: “Source: Prof. Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School, www.isc.hbs.edu; U.S. Cluster
Mapping Project,www.clustermapping.us, Richard Bryden, Project Director”
Source: “Source: Prof. Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School, www.isc.hbs.edu; U.S. Cluster
Mapping Project,www.clustermapping.us, Richard Bryden, Project Director”
35
36
1
The United States created private-sector jobs at a rate of 1.9% in the latest 12-month period, nearly double Wisconsin’s 1.0% rate, the data show.http://www.jsonline.com/business/qu...ased-b99165965z1-236368171.html#ixzz2wG6V2PCX
2
http://www.bls.gov/data/#employment
3
Bureau of Labor Statistics
4
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LASST550000000000003?data_tool=XGtable
5
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6
http://www.jsonline.com/business/am...wages-b9914759z1-208979131.html#ixzz2sVO1O77k
7
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8
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9
Charts for this discussion from Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance,http://media.jrn.com/documents/WITaxpayer.pdf
10
http://www.theatlantic.com/business...-popular-states-for-startup-investors/262964/
11
http://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20reports%20and%20covers/2013/04/kiea_2013_report.pdf (p. 20, Figure 10)
12
http://host.madison.com/news/local/...icle_9051c464-76f9-11e2-9b370019bb2963f4.html
13
http://clustermapping.us/home/
14
http://clustermapping.us/home/
15
http://clustermapping.us/home/
16
http://www.competitivewi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/BeBold2_Study_October2012.pdf
17
http://www.competitivewi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/BeBold2_Study_October2012.pdf
18
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politic...es-new-high-tech-hubs-were-building-iron-man/
19
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20
http://www.nationalskillscoalition.org/assets/reports-/americasforgottenmiddleskilljobs_2007-11.pdf
21
http://education.yahoo.net/articles/degrees_that_are_a_waste.htm
22
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23
http://www.luminafoundation.org/1_no_parent_nav_bar_fix/state_work/wisconsin
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http://www.luminafoundation.org/1_no_parent_nav_bar_fix/state_work/wisconsin
25
http://www.tuition.io/blog/2013/03/...-graduate-student-loan-debt-hits-even-harder/
26
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-faster-for-public-schools-than-private-ones/
27
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28
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29
http://www.wisconsin.edu/audit/Credit4PriorLearn.pdf
30
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31
http://www.risepartnership.org
32
http://www.ccdaily.com/Pages/Workfo...thways-are-essential-workforce-solutions.aspx
33
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http://research.upjohn.org/cgi/view...esearch&seiredir=1&referer=http://www.google.
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35
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36
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37
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38
http://www.aei.org/article/society-and-culture/immigration/immigration-and-american-jobs/
39
http://www.americanprogress.org/iss...iddle-class-that-wont-cost-taxpayers-a-penny/
40
http://www.pewstates.org/research/d...w-many-jobs-did-your-state-create-85899483589;http://www.ncsl.org/research/laborandemployment/
41
http://www.epi.org/publication/raising-federal-minimum-wage-to-1010/,http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm,http://www.epi.org/
publication/ib341-raising-federal-minimum-wage/
42
http://host.madison.com/news/local/...8a45-525d-afbdbacf205345d6.html#ixzz2wMqCPQq3
43
http://www.businessweek.com/article...siness-job-creation-is-stronger-than-we-think
45
http://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20reports%20and%20covers/2013/04/kiea_2013_report.pdf
46
http://wpt.org/Here_and_Now/wisconsins-need-start-money-companies
47
http://host.madison.com/business/ve...cle_f5702ec6-61af-11e2-bd2f-001a4bcf887a.html
48
http://host.madison.com/business/in...article_959fb693-b1ec-540e-8f62-1aab332fbbf4.
html
49
http://www.startribune.com/business/187388891.html
50
http://www.illinoisinnovation.com/i...ort-capital-infrastructure-innovation-part-2/
51
http://www.theatlantic.com/business...-popular-states-for-startup-investors/262964/
52
www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/venture-capital-trial-court-authority-on-tap-thursday-for-legislators-b9927956z1-210425341.html#ixzz2wZobYAHi
53
http://www.angelcapitalassociation....olicy/State/WisconsinQNBVAnnualReport2012.pdf
54
http://www.angelcapitalassociation....licy/State/Tax Credits - Jeffrey Williams.pdf andhttp://www.
wisconsinangelnetwork.com/uploads/2008wrcr.pdf
55
http://www.jsonline.com/business/an...r-start-ups-in-2012-b9936555z1-212087911.html
56
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin...ott-walker-says-247000-job-capco-program-was/
57
http://d2p.wisc.edu
58
http://inwisconsin.com/exporting/wisconsin-export-data/
59
http://www.commerce.gov/news/press-...teen-states-achieve-record-export-levels-2013
60
http://www.wmmb.com/cheese_companies/export.aspx
61
http://www.slcatlanta.org/news/research.php?post_id=50
62
http://host.madison.com/wsj/busines...cle_1ad4df3f-0d62-5ab6-944a-4ea5361f96a7.html
63
http://www.areadevelopment.com/Busi...ing-us-manufacturing-labor-costs1266672.shtml
64
http://taxfoundation.org/state-tax-climate/wisconsin
65
http://247wallst.com/investing/2011/04/05/the-ten-states-with-the-worst-property-taxes/2/
66
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116208059.html
67
http://www.jsonline.com/business/wi...d-speeds-kt9h44s-202630071.html#ixzz2vulGN0rh
68
http://broadband.uwex.edu/blog/2011/07/no_internet_anywhere/
69
http://urbanmilwaukee.com/2013/08/27/murphys-law-wi-could-still-get-higher-speed-rail/
70
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/09/wisconsin-highspeed-rail-_n_794721.html
71
http://media.jrn.com/documents/WITaxpayer.pdf
72
http://www.icic.org/ee_uploads/publications/Local_Cluster_Paper.pdf
73
Porter, Professor Michael E., Harvard Business School Initiative for a Competitive Inner City. “Anchor Institutions and Urban Economic Development:
From Community Benefit to Shared Value.” Inner City Economic Forum Summit. 26 Oct 2010.
74
http://host.madison.com/business/ce...cle_2e14003a-79e1-5a53-87dc-dd9366c3bcd2.html
75
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wiscon...osses-in-wisconsin-b99210324z1-246422381.html
76
Berry, Bill. “Let facts prevail on livestock siting rules.” The Capital Times (Madison). 1 Mar 2010.http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/bill_
berry/let-facts-prevail-on-livestock-siting-rules/article_a912bf9b-83a7-5e7a-951f-c474f4fa1530.html
77
http://www.cias.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/organic-numbers.pdf
78
http://www.joe.org/joe/2014february/tt7.php
79
http://www.wifoodhub.com/?q=aboutus
80
Table 5. Gross Collections, by Type of Tax and State, Fiscal Year 2012.http://www.irs.gov/file_source/pub/irs-soi/12db05co.xls
81
http://www.transparency.gov/state-summary-tabular?tab=By+Location&tabletype=statesummary
82
http://www.wpri.org/WPRI/WI-Magazine/Volume19No1/Getting-Ahead.htm
83
Occupational Employment Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics.
37
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Letter from Mary Burke? p. a
Invest for Success Overview? p. 3
Strategy 1:?Clusters of Opportunity? p. 5
Strategy 2:?Closing the Degree Gap and Connecting Middle-class
Working People to 21st Century jobs? p. 10
Strategy 3:?Investing in the ideas and entrepreneurs who will create
the next generation of growth businesses? p. 18
Strategy 4:?Position Wisconsin to be highly competitive in the global
marketplace? p. 23
Strategy 5:?Creating a climate to grow jobs and a high-quality
workforce? p. 26
References? p. 35
Burke for Wisconsin? |?P.O. Box 2479? |?Madison, WI 53701? |?(608) 807-0602
burkeforwisconsin.com
burkeforwisconsin
@Burke4WI
Paid for by Burke for Wisconsin, Sheila Conroy, Treasurer
doc_821277959.pdf
Mary Burkes Plan Invest For Success
A Letter from Mary Burke
I am running for Governor because I love Wisconsin and know that we have
everything needed to be a thriving, top ten economy. But as I travel the state,
I hear too many stories of new college graduates leaving the state because
they can’t find a good job here. Or of an aspiring entrepreneur with a great
idea but can’t get the capital needed to turn their idea into a business. Of
sons and daughters who just graduated from high school but lack the skills
to get a good paying job. And of workers in their 50s who were laid off and
worry about finding a job that will make sure they have money for retirement.
Unfortunately, we all know too many people with similar stories in this
economy.
But it does not have to be this way.
Wisconsin, like every other state in the nation, was hit hard by the Great
Recession. It was a national calamity, but take a look at how other states are
faring today, and you’ll see all but one state in the Midwest is doing better
than Wisconsin.
I know Wisconsin has
everything it takes to
have one of the strongest
economies anywhere,
but we’re not even close.
We’re 48th in new
business startups.
And we’re creating jobs
at a rate that’s just half
the national average.
We can do better.
I’ve spent most of my career in the private sector, and I know what it means
to build a Wisconsin success story. At Trek, I grew the division I led from $3
million to $50 million in sales annually, helping Trek grow to nearly 1,000
Wisconsin jobs.
That real world experience – and being held accountable for the results –
informs my plan and my approach.
What I’ve learned is that creating jobs doesn’t begin, or end, with ideology;
it takes clear objectives, honest assessments, and a commitment to working
with all partners around the table to ensure success. And most importantly, it
requires a clear understanding of what actually makes the economy grow.
For me, it starts with creating more good-paying jobs and making sure
workers have the skills necessary to fill those jobs. Succeeding on those
fronts strengthens and grows the middle class. And when the middle class
thrives, businesses grow – generating more jobs, opportunity and prosperity
for everyone. Everybody gets a fair shot – that’s the American dream. And we
need more people who feel like it can happen for them right here in Wisconsin.
That means making sound, strategic investments. At Trek Bicycle, we grew
sales and jobs by investing in our people, offices to open new markets and
engineers and designers to create better products. All good business people
know it takes investment to grow. It is no different with Wisconsin’s economy.
We need big, bold ideas to build a thriving, top ten economy, and we need new
leadership to make it happen.
I call my plan “Invest for Success” – and in the pages that follow I lay out the
five core strategies I’ll use to turn things around.
I hope you’ll take the time to read the whole plan. You see, I’m a
businessperson, so I view this as a starting point. I want feedback, and
input into the plan from business owners, workers, entrepreneurs, students,
community leaders – and you – so that we can strengthen and update it along
the way.
Because this plan isn’t just for the campaign – it’s the playbook I’ll look to
the day I’m sworn in as your Governor, and start working to strengthen
Wisconsin’s economy and the middle class.
That’s what I’ll do as your governor.
And I hope you’ll join me.
Let’s get to work.
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Invest for Success Overview? p. 3
Strategy 1:?Clusters of Opportunity? p. 5
Strategy 2:?Closing the Degree Gap and Connecting Middle-class
Working People to 21st Century jobs? p. 10
Strategy 3:?Investing in the ideas and entrepreneurs who will create
the next generation of growth businesses? p. 18
Strategy 4:?Position Wisconsin to be highly competitive in the global
marketplace? p. 23
Strategy 5:?Creating a climate to grow jobs and a high-quality
workforce? p. 26
References? p. 35
2
INVEST FOR SUCCESS
My family has been in Wisconsin for four
generations. I love this state. But I am deeply
concerned about what is happening in
Wisconsin today, because for all the talk
about being pro-business, the failure to take a
businesslike approach to growing jobs here is
holding our economy back.
Every businessperson knows that producing
growth and jobs doesn’t begin, or end, with
ideology – it takes a solid plan. It starts with
laying out clear objectives, and being honest
about how you will assess whether you have
achieved them. It means laying out the strategies
and the tactics you’ll use to reach those goals
– not slogans that can fit on a bumper sticker.
It means looking at the variables that go into
business success, applying them to policy
decisions, determining the metrics by which
you will measure success, and ultimately being
held accountable. And it takes real management
expertise, and a commitment to working with all
the partners at the table, to ensure success.
When it comes to job creation, the painful
truth is that Wisconsin is doing worse than the
country as a whole, and compared with other
Midwestern states, we are 9th out of 10. In fact,
the rest of the country has been adding jobs
at twice the rate of Wisconsin.1 After I left the
position of Wisconsin Secretary of Commerce,
the impact of the Great Recession was as bad
in Wisconsin as anywhere. Unfortunately, while
Wisconsin suffered from the recession like the
rest of America, we have not enjoyed the same
recovery as the rest of the country. Current
policies have made Wisconsin an outlier
compared to the general recovery across the
country:
an unacceptable 35th in job creation in even the
most recent data.3
? Unemployment: When I served as Wisconsin’s
Commerce Secretary, Wisconsin had 72,000
more jobs than it does now, based on the latest
data.4 Meanwhile, the state’s annual average
unemployment rate was never higher than
4.8% when I was Commerce Secretary – but
unemployment has never been below 6.1%
under the current Administration.5
? Shrinking Wages: Wisconsin wages are
declining at double the rate of other states,
and current indicators suggest these trends
will continue if we stay on the current path.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
private-sector wages in Wisconsin fell 2.2% in
the 12 months ending September 2012, double
the 1.1% decline experienced by the nation
overall.6 Wisconsin has a nearly $4,000 wage
gap with the rest of the country.7 8
? Job Growth: Recently, jobs in our state have
grown at only half the rate of the rest of the
country. If we had grown at a rate just equal to
the average of 49 other states since 2011, we’d
have almost 50% more jobs.2 This places us at
3
As bad as the last three years, and their
misguided policies, have been for our state,
the long-term story is no better. This is not a
challenge that has developed overnight – and,
if we do not dramatically change direction, it is
not one we will solve anytime soon, either. Like
many other older, industrial states, Wisconsin has
seen its traditional industries – including those
in manufacturing and agriculture – lose ground
to low-cost foreign competition in a globalizing
economy. This is a decades-long story.9
? Wisconsin lags our neighboring states in capital
investment in new ventures – with less than half
of the level of Michigan and Minnesota, and
only about one-eighth the amount invested in
Illinois.10
? The Ewing Kauffman Foundation ranked
Wisconsin 48th in new business starts.11
? Wisconsin now ranks among the top ten states
for out-migration.12
We simply cannot keep on the same path we’re on.
We need bold change. As a businesswoman, I know
something about growing rather than shrinking
businesses, and what I’ve learned is that you have to
make investments in order to generate dividends. I want
to see our home state become a state of strong growth,
in all regions again, one that pays dividends for the
next generation the way it did for mine. To do that, we
need to start making the investments that will pay off –
investments in helping businesses and business clusters
grow, investments in the education and quality of our
workforce, investments in science and technology,
investments in capital formation, investments in trade
promotion and export marketing, investments in
communities, business climate, and quality of life.
That’s a bold change from the policies of our
current state government. It’s the change we need.
In this document, I lay out the strategies for how
we make that change to invest for success. To
Since the start of the Millennium, Wisconsin’s
put these strategies together, I have consulted
overall economy has contracted by 1.4%, even as
some of the best minds in Wisconsin, and I
we’ve experienced growth in individual regions of
have traveled our entire state, talking with
the state. Overall, we trail the nation by a whopping
farmers and business leaders, entrepreneurs and
2.8 percentage points – because Wisconsin has
working families, small business owners and
contracted by 1.4% as the national economy
inventors, educators and workers. I’ve conducted
has grown by 1.4% – declining by as much as
roundtable discussions across Wisconsin, and
employment nationwide has risen (see chart).
poured through the many in-depth reports
produced on our state’s economy like Be Bold 1
Wisconsin needs government to work with
and 2.
business to train and educate tomorrow’s workers,
to build the infrastructure and attract the capital
You see, I’m a businessperson, so I view this as
necessary to grow business activity, and to make
a starting point. I want feedback, and input into
the investments in communities and quality-of-life
the plan, so that we can strengthen and update it
that make businesses and workers alike want to call
along the way. Because this plan isn’t just for the
a place “home.”
campaign – it’s the playbook I’ll look to the day
I’m sworn in as Governor, and start working to
We’re clearly not doing that now:
strengthen Wisconsin’s economy.
4
Investing for Success: Strategies
Strategy 1: Clusters of opportunity.
Organize economic development and public
policy efforts around industry clusters, not just
individual firms.
Source:http://www.isc.hbs.edu/pdf/2013-1024---ICIC_Economic_
Summit---Michael_Porter.pdf
Background: Industry clusters are groups of
similar or related firms that share common
markets, technologies, and skills. Some firms
may compete with one another, but in many
cases they are linked through the supply
chain and rely on each other to do business.
The next two pages provide information on
Wisconsin’s numerous economic clusters.
Firms and workers in an industry cluster gain
advantages from their proximity to competitors
and suppliers alike, as well as from a local
workforce pool with specialized skills, and
service providers that cater to the specific
needs of the cluster firms. Firms in a cluster find
mutually beneficial ways to collaborate and
pool resources in ways that help the firms to
become more competitive.
order to create a business environment that
maximizes their competitiveness and growth
potential. A cluster approach to economic
development can help firms to achieve a
competitive advantage by promoting their
common interests, creating wide benefits across
interrelated Wisconsin industries – instead of
just a few firms, and can make public sector
efforts more effective in supporting economic
growth.
“Helping individual firms grow
is good, but investing our
research efforts and economic
development resources
into industry clusters is a
much smarter way to build
Wisconsin’s economy and
create new jobs. We must grow
whole chains of promising
industries, not just some of the
individual links.” – Mary Burke
Vision: Wisconsin must upgrade and modernize
its economic development policies around
our existing and emerging industry clusters in
5
Wisconsin Clusters
Wisconsin has dozens of thriving clusters already. As noted economic expert Michael Porter has
observed, we can think broadly about our industry clusters as being of two kinds: traded sectors and
local sectors. While traded industries sell products and services across regional and national borders,
local ones provide goods and services to the local market or region, with limited competition
across regions.13 Both kinds of industries are important to a healthy economy. As this analysis by
Harvard Business School’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness shows,14 these are our state’s
largest industry sectors, around which vibrant clusters continue to develop, ranked by the number of
Wisconsinites they employ:
Traded Sectors
Source: Prof. Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School, www.isc.hbs.edu; U.S. Cluster Mapping Project,www.clustermapping.us, Richard Bryden,
Project Director
6
Local Sectors
Source: Prof. Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School, www.isc.hbs.edu; U.S. Cluster Mapping Project,www.clustermapping.us, Richard Bryden,
Project Director
How we get there: 7-steps to creating jobs by
growing Wisconsin industry clusters
As Governor, I will realign the state’s economic
development efforts around core and emerging
industry clusters. Industry clusters are a wellestablished and proven source of competitive
advantage.15 The concept of clusters as an
economic strength has been acknowledged
since the 1890’s but has been modernized as
an innovation-centered economic development
model relevant to the 21st Century in the work of
the leading global adviser on economic strategy,
Michael Porter of Harvard University.
This plan does not attempt to define the specific
business strategies for clustered sectors such as
clean tech, energy, financial services, or others.
Rather, the state’s economic development
activities are refocused around strengthening
our clusters’ capacity to organize and maximize
their resources to become more competitive.
The most effective strategies for the growth of
each of our diverse clusters will be identified
and developed by industries themselves in
partnership with cluster organizations.
In the Strategies and Tactics that follow, I
address all the other elements of our economic
development policy that flow from a cluster
strategy:
? Education and workforce training (Strategy 2);
? Science and technology infrastructure (Strategy
3);
? Business attraction (Strategy 4);
? Export promotion (Strategy 4); and,
? Quality communities and essential
infrastructure (Strategy 5).
But I start, here, under Strategy 1, with our
programs specifically for supporting cluster
strategies. These will include:
7
1. Strengthen partnerships among
companies and local industry associations
to drive a cluster-wide strategy.
As a businessperson, I know that businesses
create jobs and private sector leadership,
workers, ideas, and energy are required
to strengthen the competitiveness
of Wisconsin’s clusters. Under my
Administration, state government will
support existing cluster organizations and
initiatives, encourage new ones to form, and
organize the state’s efforts around clusters.
Steps we will take include:
?
Directing agencies to assign specific staff
to support and coordinate with individual
cluster groups/organizations.
?
Working with clusters groups/organizations
to assess the cluster’s current competitive
position and opportunities by drawing on
resources like the UW System, state experts,
and state-supported organizations.
?
Providing grants to support cluster-based
planning, organization, and joint initiatives
such as training, research, or marketing.
?
Establishing matching and accountability
requirements for cluster-based grants.
?
Creating training programs to build staff
capacity – both public and private – in
facilitation and cluster-based economic
development.
2. Bring together cluster leaders and
supporting industries in a Governor’s
Cluster Leadership Council to help steer
development strategies.
To implement a cluster-based strategy, key
industry leadership must be engaged to
oversee the effort. While each cluster will be
encouraged to form their own organizations
or associations based on their needs and the
private leadership within their industry, I will
bring together leaders from the state’s key
clusters and supporting institutions to provide
input on economic strategy and to create a
forum for clusters to articulate their needs
directly to state officials. As Governor, I will
8
personally lead these meetings along with
relevant cabinet members and agency staff.
3. Apply a cluster strategy to workforce
training.
It is also useful to think of workforce skills
in terms of clusters. In Wisconsin, five
skills clusters – network systems/software
development, accounting and finance,
nursing and healthcare, mechanical
engineering, and metal manufacturing
– drive over half of the state’s economic
output.16 Yet 1 in 10 jobs in Wisconsin’s
top five clusters cannot be filled due to a
shortage of workers with specific expertise.17
This presents both a threat to our cluster
competitiveness, and an opportunity to
engage cluster-based workforce training
partners that develop workers with essential
skills tailored to cluster demand. Specific
initiatives to align workforce development
with our cluster-based approach are
presented in more detail under Strategy 2.
4. Improve each cluster’s competitiveness by
enhancing its innovation pipeline through
R&D and technology transfer initiatives in
partnership with research institutions.
The advantages of knowledge-sharing
between research institutions and industry
is becoming increasingly apparent. As
intellectual property (produced through
innovation) continues to increase in
New Research Revolutionizes
Old Industries
Patents on two bioreactors developed at UW-Stevens Point
Institute for Sustainable Energy hold the key to efficiently
converting wood and crops into biofuels, chemicals, and
new materials for the 21st Century. Private industry is now
investing in these technologies, which have the potential
to reinvigorate and redefine Wisconsin’s traditional paper
industry, by using the same inputs to make new and better
products more cost-effectively.http://www.jsonline.com/business/re...-dying-paper-mills-b99213308z1-248035541.html
market changes; and/or lead
cluster-wide growth initiatives.
Milwaukee’s Water Cluster
As Governor, one of my first
A good example of this type of strategy is the formation of the state’s emerging
priorities will be to ensure that
water cluster: As climate change increasingly affects weather patterns and
water resources nationally and globally, Milwaukee is becoming prominent in
Wisconsin earns a place among
the world for its concentration of expertise in water resource management and
the new federal “Manufacturing
water rights law. The Water Council, consisting of water experts from business,
Hubs,” bridging the gap
academia, and government, is already working to make the Milwaukee Region the
between applied research
world’s preeminent location for water resource research, technology, economic
and product development by
development and education. UW-Milwaukee is home to the only graduate school
bringing together companies,
of freshwater science in the world, and the Great Lakes WATER Institute, and
Marquette University is among the few law schools offering special courses in
universities and other academic
water law. Wisconsin is becoming the center of the water industry of the future.
and training institutions, and
federal agencies to co-invest
www.watercouncil.org,http://www4.uwm.edu/freshwater
in key technology areas that
encourage investment and
economic value, companies across industry
production in the U.S. With the
lines are viewing partnerships with research
help of these federal funds, we can make
institutions as valuable strategic resources.
substantial investments in our manufacturing
cluster that range from workforce training
to advanced manufacturing incubators and
5. Help industry grow and innovate by
infrastructure. Four hubs have already been
adopting new technologies, improving
created – in Youngstown, Raleigh, Detroit
productivity, and deploying advanced
and Chicago. The President has pledged to
manufacturing processes.
create 8 more such hubs.18 I’m going to fight
For example, I will work with the Wisconsin
for one to be in Wisconsin.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership
(WMEP), the Northwest Manufacturing
7. Fund cluster-based solutions.
Outreach Center (NWMOC), and technical
As Governor, I will direct funding to be
colleges to implement initiatives to
invested in the kinds of cluster-formation
strengthen manufacturing clusters. Naturally,
and promotion efforts described above.
our research universities and WMEP have
The purpose will be to help create a
important roles to play in driving industrial
business climate where all of Wisconsin’s
innovation and best practices that increase
industries can maximize their strengths and
productivity and competitiveness. Wisconsin
take advantage of shared efficiencies to
manufacturing will benefit from bridging
become world leaders in global markets.
the divide between academic research and
These funds will be distributed through
industrial progress. As a state, we should be
a competitive grant program designed to
using our economic development dollars
develop the cluster “ecosystem” – that is, the
to support and build on the work of proven
resources, infrastructure, and partnerships
leaders in the field.
that will enhance the competitiveness of our
industries. Grants will be awarded to cluster6. Support the development of centers of
based consortia, with priority given to those
excellence, research hubs, and other
proposals that would leverage private sector
intellectual or material infrastructure.
funds for the greatest impact.
Such efforts serve as long-term industry
“focal points” to offer support to an industry
cluster; help Wisconsin firms adapt to
9
Strategy 2: Close the degree gap and connect
middle-class and working people to 21st Century jobs
Background: A qualified workforce has always
been – and will continue to be – the number
one economic resource in Wisconsin. As the
Pathways to Prosperity report from Harvard’s
Graduate School of Education19 documented, 14
million job openings – nearly half of those that
shows, over the next decade, Wisconsin will
need nearly 670,000 more workers with at least
some form of post-secondary degree.23
Wisconsin’s workforce is top notch, but the
current job market is more competitive than
ever, and needed skill sets
are changing. Whether with
a 2-year or 4-year degree,
Wisconsin will need to educate
nearly 670,000 more workers
beyond high school than we
are currently on track to have,
in order to fill projected job
openings by 2025.24 If we don’t
ensure that our workforce has
access to the upgraded job
skills of the 21st Century, then
those jobs will pass us by.
Vision: Wisconsin must be
fully invested in our workforce
training and education, so that
all Wisconsinites can compete
not only in today’s job market,
but for the new jobs that will
grow our economy tomorrow.
Source:http://www.luminafoundation.org/1_no_parent_nav_bar_fix/state_work/wisconsin/
A well-educated and highly
trained workforce is also
will be filled by workers with post-secondary
critical to attract national and global employers
education – will go to people with an associate’s who need workers with the skills to transition
degree or occupational certificate. Many of
traditional industries into the 21st Century. We
these will be in “middle-skill” occupations such must link Wisconsin’s workforce training programs
as electrician, construction manager, medical
more closely with our economic development
technician and paralegal – jobs that require
initiatives – so we are training people for good
education and training beyond high school,
jobs that really exist – and attracting jobs that
but not necessarily a 4-year degree.20 More
Wisconsinites are prepared to do. To grow good
surprisingly, they can even pay more than many jobs here and keep them here, we must invest in
of the jobs held by those with a bachelor’s
the fundamentals with the following goals:
degree – in part because many 4-year degrees
? A Wisconsin workforce equipped to compete
are earned in fields with low job growth.21 In
with the most in-demand skills needed for 21st
fact, 27 percent of people with post-secondary
Century jobs;
licenses or certificates – credentials short of an
associate’s degree – earn more than the average
? Increased career focus within our high schools,
22
so that every student graduates with a plan and
bachelor’s degree recipient. As the chart above
10
an understanding of how to
actualize it;
? Greater persistence among
students who enter postsecondary courses of study
and training and who go on
to complete their degree or
credential; and
? Enhanced alignment of
workforce development
programs with the skills in
greatest demand by the job
market.
To achieve these goals,
we must forge stronger
partnerships among the
employer community, our
universities, technical colleges,
and high schools and train
workers to fill jobs that are
available now while attracting
good paying jobs in growth
industries over the long term.
Source:http://all4ed.org/articles/future-s...en-to-high-school-graduates-finds-new-report/
How we get there: 5 Steps to Investing
Wisconsin Brain Power:
Roughly two-thirds of new jobs in the next
decade will require education beyond high
school. That means preparing the workforce
of the future must start in our schools but
continue with access to higher education
and advanced technical training for the vast
bulk of the workforce, including through new
innovations in e-learning and distance learning.
Every Wisconsinite should be able to get the
training he or she needs to advance further in
the workplace – and we’ve got to do more to
keep these educated and trained workers in
Wisconsin.
1. Make higher education and skills training
more affordable.
A larger and larger share of the workforce
requires education and training beyond
high school. For many, that means advanced
technical training and certification programs
– but for a growing percentage, it means full
“Right now, a construction worker and a nurse who together make a little more
than $100,000 cannot deduct their child’s tuition to an in-state UW school or
technical college. That not only makes it harder for middle-class families to pay
for college, it makes it harder for Wisconsin to close the degree gap and create
jobs. Raising the college tuition and fees deduction to $10,424 and allowing more
middle-class families to deduct college tuition is the kind of tax cut that invests
in our workforce and builds Wisconsin’s 21st Century economy.” – Mary Burke
11
four-year college programs … and beyond.
In raw numbers, we know that Wisconsin
needs more credentialed workers and
degree-holders, but far too many people
who begin a course of study never complete
it. One of the most common reasons for
dropping out is the high cost of tuition, and
the overwhelming debt burden placed on
many students.25 We can increase college
persistence (that is, the number of students
who see the program through to completion)
by helping to make the investment in
education financially realistic for more
Wisconsinites. That’s why, as Governor, I will:
a. Work with universities and technical
colleges to increase educational capacity
and reduce cost per student. Tuition at
UW schools and other public colleges in
Wisconsin has been increasing at more
than twice the rate of inflation – in part
due to decreases in the state’s share of the
cost.26 I will work to increase state funding
for higher education, including for student
financial aid, and leverage e-learning and
distance learning to hold down costs while
increasing access.
b. Establish a first-of-its-kind authority
allowing re-financing of student loans
at no cost to taxpayers. As Governor, I
will support the creation of a student loan
refinancing authority to help qualifying
current borrowers refinance their student
loans, just like homeowners can refinance
their mortgages, so long as they stay in
Wisconsin. Thousands of student loan
borrowers are being charged interest rates
up to 12 percent – higher than the rates
they might pay on a mortgage, business
loan, or even a used car. Lower interest
rates help to make education more
affordable and to alleviate the massive
debt burden of over 753,000 student loan
borrowers in Wisconsin.27 More money in
the pockets of Wisconsin’s students and
families also means more money being
spent in Wisconsin’s economy.
c. Make student loan payments tax
deductible. I support making student
loan payments deductible from state
12
taxes, just as you can currently deduct
college expenses, resulting in individual
tax savings of approximately $179 for
the typical borrower or as much as $531
annually.28
d. Raise the college tuition deduction from
$6,943 to $10,424 (average amount of instate fees and tuition for UW-Madison)
and allow middle-class families making up
to $150,000 to use this deduction to help
pay for in-state tuition and fees.
e. Allow more flexibility in the UW System
and the Wisconsin Technical College
Systems to rapidly adjust to industry
and workforce needs. While we need a
workforce development strategy that is
aligned with our economic development
goals, this does not imply a one-size-fitsall workforce development solution for the
entire state. In order to effectively partner
with the local employer community,
educational and training institutions
must be empowered to take the initiative
to identify, fund, and tailor their own
programs to specific local workforce
needs, and to be responsive and relevant
to local employers.
f. Strengthen transferability to make
it easier for students to take basic
requirements at technical colleges and
to transfer those credits. Our university
and college systems have made great
progress in aligning requirements for
course work to make transferring credits
easier. However, each UW institution
typically sets its own testing and grading
policies that govern when credit can be
awarded – resulting in inconsistencies
about which credits may be transferable
to different UW schools.29 We can better
serve students by creating a uniform
policy across our state’s institutions,
guaranteeing that a student earning credits
at technical colleges can have that course
work transferred to a four-year college or
university. Full transferability of credits
between public institutions – particularly
from our technical colleges and the
state’s universities – will assist not only
in reducing expenses associated with
repeating courses but also the time and
money lost taking courses that are not
recognized for credit between institutions.
g. Focus workforce development and training
initiatives on creating career pathways
that build on successively stacking
credentials as workers progress along the
path. We must build on current efforts to
establish a stackable, modular educational/
training credit system that supports lifelong
learning and acknowledges the real-life
demands of adults who are working and
raising families.
2. Create more rigorous career pathways,
starting in high school.
Improving the quality of K-12 education
means making sure every student graduates
from high school job- or college-ready, with
a career plan in place. We must do this by
supporting public education, and creating
new partnerships between K-12 schools, tech
colleges, the UW System and businesses, so
that students develop the skills they need to
compete for the jobs of the future.
Century careers – a lack of counseling in
secondary schools oriented to vocational
preparation, a lack of rigorous programs
combining secondary education with job
preparation, and an obsolete cultural bias
in our society against vocational training
because of its historical separation from
higher learning.30 To address these issues,
we must:
• Enhance the Career Pathways Initiative.
This initiative, offered through the
Wisconsin Technical College System,
in a partnership with the Department
of Workforce Development called RISE
(Regional Industrial Skills Education),31
enables Wisconsin high school students
to begin training for a high-wage, highgrowth career before they graduate
from high school by taking a series of
progressively more advanced courses in a
particular area – like electronics, computer
programming, allied health or engineering.
Career Pathways programs blend academic
science, technology, engineering and math
coursework with cutting-edge vocational
training to give students both the
knowledge and the know-how to compete
in the new economy.32 Students complete
the regular high school curriculum, but
they also have the opportunity to take
specialized college courses in their “career
path” or professional discipline, creating
a seamless pathway from high school to a
credential or further education.
• Introduce students to Wisconsin
occupational clusters and provide
opportunities like virtual job shadows
and other ways for students to learn about
different careers – and the education and
training required to succeed in them.
As Governor, I will:
a. Redesign high school offerings to foster
next-generation career and technical
education planning and programs. The
Harvard Graduate School of Education
report points to three current impediments
to preparing high school students for 21st
• Expand internships and experiential
learning in targeted skill sets. We
must encourage employers to engage
the education system earlier to align
internships, apprenticeships, dual
enrollment opportunities, and applied
learning programs with in-demand skills.
• Create career-focused academies within
our high schools. These academies are
13
The La Crosse Health Science Academy
La Crosse School District in Wisconsin is home to a careerfocused “academy” that offers academic and skills-based
courses from the perspective of a career in the health sciences
– an important source of employment in the community. Created
in an industry partnership with Gunderson Lutheran Medical
Center Health System and the Health Science Consortium,
the academy makes special courses available to juniors and
seniors from area high schools, as well as opportunities for jobshadowing, mentorships, student research, and internships.http://www.lacrosseschools.com/se3bin/clientgenie.cgi?G5button=1346
proven models for combining a high
school curriculum that prepares students
for college, with a career field-specific
focus for interested students, that would
give them a leg up on the knowledge and
skills they need to pursue a career in that
field, or even to decide whether a field
is right for them. Evaluations of careerfocused academies have shown positive
impacts on high school attendance,
credits earned, grade point averages,
and graduation rates.33 They also have
demonstrated a positive effect on students’
postsecondary opportunities, including
increased college attendance and
increased earnings.34
• Train school counselors to prepare
students for the workforce. Highschool counselors are on the front lines
of preparing and guiding our future
workforce. They must be involved in
facilitating a new emphasis on career paths
Wisconsin Youth Apprenticeship Program
Under this voluntary program, high school juniors and seniors
can complete up to 900 hours of work-based education and
training in a variety of fields with participating employers. Over
75 percent of participants go on to enroll in a technical college
or university and over 60 percent complete the degrees; far
higher than the national average. Furthermore, over 85 percent
of graduates are employed after leaving high school, and 98
percent of participating employers recommend the program.https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/youthapprenticeship/
14
as our workforce development strategy
evolves. This means they need access
to the most current information about
workforce opportunities, high-growth jobs,
and what is required to enter those fields,
so they can effectively guide high school
students toward careers with promising
futures.
b. Expand the Wisconsin Youth
Apprenticeship Program to make workbased and experiential learning in
targeted skill sets available in all school
districts. Wisconsin has one of the most
successful youth apprenticeship programs
in the country, but it is not available to
enough of our youth who could benefit
from it. With a nationally renowned
program in our state, we should do more
of what we know works and invest in
making this opportunity available to
significantly more Wisconsin high school
students.
c. Create stronger partnerships between
the educational system and Wisconsin
businesses to ensure we are developing
essential, in-demand career skills. We
must do more to engage the private sector
and our labor community to coordinate
with workforce development efforts
between universities, community colleges,
vocational-technical schools, and high
schools, and to develop a workforce
with more relevant, in-demand skills.
The Governor’s Talent Council (described
further in Section 3 below) will serve as
a proactive liaison between high schools,
higher education, and businesses to
facilitate the following actions:
• Reaching out to more employers to
introduce them to the advantages of
offering apprenticeships.
• Involving more employers in curriculum
development for dual enrollment
opportunities, industry and skill
certifications, and applied learning
programs.
• Encouraging businesses, especially those
in advanced STEM-related fields or target
clusters, to host both career-oriented and
subject-matter field trips – and to provide
summer work and learning opportunities
for both students and teachers to gain the
latest in-the-field knowledge.
• Engaging local businesses with the high
school career academies we will create
across the state.
3. Upgrade skills training for 21st Century
jobs.
Job training and education are no longer just
for young people. Most workers nowadays
must continually upgrade their skills for new
jobs and new opportunities. We need to
ensure that traditional job training programs
augment the foundation we provide through
our education systems, by providing the
highest-quality, on-going options. My
Administration will:
a. Establish a new Wisconsin Talent
Development Fund to invest in a worldclass system of workforce training
organized around 21st Century Skills –
not just individual job descriptions.
• The allocation of resources from the
Wisconsin Talent Development Fund
will be for the alignment of locally based
workforce, educational, and economic
development strategies, and will reflect the
state’s economic development priorities.
• The Fund will be administered by the
Governor’s Talent Council. This Council
will merge the current Governor’s Councils
on Workforce Investment and Workforce
and College Readiness into one entity
tasked with developing recommendations
for policies and programs to improve
college- and career-readiness, in alignment
with our industry clusters.
• The results of programs and initiatives
receiving Talent Development funds
will be assessed on an ongoing basis,
with distribution adjusted accordingly
in support of the changing economic
development climate.
The Work Wisconsin Regional Training
Partnership (WWRTP/Big STEP) is a
501(c)(3) nonprofit workforce training
organization with a Center of Excellence
that currently partners with employer
groups, community groups, and state
agencies to facilitate job training and
opportunities for youth and adults.35
We need more people engaged in
programs like this. My Administration
will provide skilled apprenticeship grants
to help ensure that employees have the
skills employers want in a wide range
of industries, including manufacturing,
construction, and all our target clusters.
c. Create workforce supply and demand
forecasts based on skills clusters. We
will assign an economist to work with
each cluster to develop a comprehensive
talent supply and demand projection
for Wisconsin that examines the skills
required by the state’s employer groups,
and focuses on aligning and advancing
modern skills clusters with these groups.
d. Provide customized workforce training
for businesses considering expanding
or relocating to Wisconsin. We need
a customized, “on-demand” training
program – coordinated through the
technical college system – to provide
specific businesses with the workforces
Movin’ Out
Wisconsin is among the top 10 states
for people moving out, according to the
annual survey from United Van Lines,
with 55% or so moves involving the state
being classified as “outbound.” As the
State Department of Administration has
reported, “In Wisconsin, recent decades
have been marked by … out-migration
in the post-college cohorts ages 20-24
and 25-29 (sometimes through 30-34).”
“Wisconsin’s Future Population. Projections for the State, Its Counties and
Municipalities, 2010-2040.” Wisconsin Department of Administration Demographic
Services Center. December 2013.
b. Get more people into apprenticeships.
15
they need on a quick-turnaround basis, as
well as longer-term continuous training
for a firm’s existing workers, rather than
making businesses navigate various
training programs that are fragmented and
disconnected from each other.
4. Stop the Brain Drain.
When businesses – especially those with
high-growth and high-wage potential –
look at where to start or move these days,
a main consideration is whether they
will have reliable access to a large pool
of the educated and skilled workers they
want in any given location. Educating and
training today’s and tomorrow’s workforce
is essential – but keeping them here in
Wisconsin is just as important. We need
nearly 670,000 more degreed workers in
Wisconsin over the next dozen years to meet
projected employer needs. We’re not going
to meet that objective if the bright minds
we send to our universities and technical
colleges then leave our state because they
can’t find the career opportunities – or
quality of life – they seek.
To ensure that our communities remain
vibrant and our economy strong, I will:
a. Make Wisconsin the place college grads
want to come to and stay. We can’t
afford to let our state’s top export be
talent. Studies show a disproportionate
out-migration of UW grads, especially in
engineering.36 There’s a range of things
we can do to make it more likely that
college grads will stay where they’ve been
educated:
• College graduates move primarily to seek
the best job opportunities. Wisconsin can
retain more recent college graduates by
building stronger ties between colleges and
local employers. One way to do it: expand
internship and cooperative learning
opportunities in partnership with local
companies, providing work experience
for students, lowering recruiting costs for
employers, and enhancing the reputation
of our terrific colleges and universities.
16
• Develop an online statewide database for
internships through a joint effort between
the state government, our colleges and
universities, and the business community.
• Ensure that college placement offices offer
robust services and provide linkages with
Wisconsin businesses.
• Strengthen dialogue and partnerships
between colleges and Wisconsin
employers to ensure that student
preparation is aligned with workforce
needs and that, by graduation, links have
already been formed between the right
graduates and the right employers.
• Offer financial incentives as inducements
to college graduates to stay here. As I
proposed earlier in this plan, we will make
college loan payments tax deductible for
those who stay and build their futures in
Wisconsin.
• Invest in Wisconsin’s quality of life in order
to entice the next generation of ambitious
young people to stake their claim here. This
means investing in the things that make
our communities vibrant places to live and
work – from ensuring marriage equality
to increasing access to broadband and
accessible transportation to the arts and
culture. This element of my plan is detailed
further below, in Strategy 5.
b. Help highly skilled international
students to stay in Wisconsin after they
graduate. As many as 40 percent of
graduate students in science, technology,
engineering, and math (STEM) fields
are here on student visas.37 Studies
have shown that for every 100 foreignborn workers added to the economy in
STEM fields, another 262 new jobs were
created for native U.S. workers.38 When
we educate foreign students here, they
become assets. We benefit from keeping
them here where they make our state
more competitive and help to grow our
economy.
5. Make work pay by raising the minimum
wage and reinstating equal pay laws.
a. As Governor, I will support phasing in a
minimum wage of $10.10 in three stages
over two years to help working families
make ends meet, reduce dependence
on government assistance and to spur
demand that grows our local economy.
The time has come to make honest work
pay a living wage and to lift hard working
families out of poverty. Here’s why:
• Large and small business owners across
the state who I talk to support this and
realize it means less employee turnover
and more money to fuel our economy.
• The minimum wage in Wisconsin is $7.25
an hour; that is 31 percent lower than the
real value of the minimum wage in 1968.39
• The 21 states with a higher minimum
wage than Wisconsin all have higher
projected job growth than our state, with
the exception of Maine.40
• Today, the average minimum wage earner
provides half of the total income for his or
her family; the Wisconsinites who would
directly benefit would also be the most
likely to spend any additional income
immediately in their local communities
– on groceries, clothing, and other
necessities – creating an instant boost in
in-state economic activity, which in turn
creates jobs.41
b. Reinstate Wisconsin’s 2009 Equal Pay
Enforcement Act. Wisconsin is just one
of five states (the others are: Alabama,
Mississippi, South Carolina, and Utah)
without an equal pay law protecting
workers from gender discrimination in
their paycheck. Wisconsin passed such a
law in 2009, The Equal Pay Enforcement
Act, but it was repealed in a bill signed by
Governor Walker in 2012. In Wisconsin in
2012, the median salary of a woman who
works full time, year-round was $36,535,
or 78 percent of a man’s median salary
of $46,898.42 Women and men alike are
supporting families and deserve to be
compensated fairly for their work and
expertise.
17
Strategy 3: Invest in the ideas and entrepreneurs who
will create the next generation of growth businesses.
Background: New businesses and small business
expansions are essential to economic growth –
and they’re particularly central to Wisconsin’s
economy. Every giant corporation was once a
small startup – and, in Wisconsin, nearly all of
our largest Wisconsin-based businesses got their
start right here in the Badger State … and stayed.
That’s why entrepreneurship matters so much to
our state’s long-term future.
Wisconsin ranks 48 th of 50
states in new business startups.
And in the short-term, small- and medium-sized
businesses have been hiring new employees
at a faster rate than large companies since the
beginning of the economic recovery in 2009.43
But the Ewing Kaufman Foundation ranked
Wisconsin 48th in new business starts.45
Successful entrepreneurship requires a good
idea and a strong work ethic. But it also requires
capital to finance its development, and technical
and management skills to prosper. In today’s
economic climate, many small business owners
18
“My father started Trek Bicycle in
a barn in Waterloo. I helped build
it into a global brand employing
nearly 1,000 people here in
Wisconsin. So can we really create
thousands of jobs from small
businesses? The fact is, that’s how
Wisconsin has always succeeded,
building businesses and jobs from
the ground up.” – Mary Burke
– especially first-time entrepreneurs – find it
almost impossible to borrow the money they
need to start or grow their business in Wisconsin.
In spite of our world-class institutions of higher
learning and research, some promising ventures
to come out of Wisconsin seek greener pastures
where they can find startup funding.46
Vision: We should make Wisconsin one
of the best states in the U.S. for innovative
entrepreneurship – which is the biggest driver of
job growth across the board. Making Wisconsin
more entrepreneur-friendly means attracting
more of the capital that businesses – especially
startups – need to compete and thrive. It means
making sure our state stands at the cuttingedge of scientific research and development.
And it means turning those discoveries into the
products, services, and companies that will fuel
the economy of the future. We will improve
access to capital for innovative young companies
with potential for growth, create a business
environment that promotes new ventures and
attracts talent, foster the search for knowledge
and innovation, and accelerate the transfer
of technology from our world-class research
institutions to the market.
How we get there: Attract ideas and capital
to entrepreneurs and small businesses, and
connect research to real-world companies.
1. Boost capital investment in Wisconsin.
Small Businesses are a Big Deal
According to the Small Business Administration, small
businesses account for 65 percent of net new privatesector jobs, and young companies are among the biggest
job creators. Research shows that businesses between
one and ten years old create nearly 40% of net new jobs.http://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/sbfaq.pdfhttp://www.kauffman.org/~/media/kauffman_org/research%20
reports%20and%20covers/2012/11/bds_report_7.pdf
a. Establish a Small Business Capital Access
Program to encourage banks and other
lenders to lend more to new small
businesses not covered by venture capital
funding and angel tax credits. While
small businesses are a key driver of new
job creation, too many small and startup
businesses cannot access the capital
they need to expand in Wisconsin. My
Administration will establish a capital
access program to help fill gaps in the
lending market not served by financial
institutions or the U.S. Small Business
Administration (SBA), which encourages
lenders to make loans available to qualified
small businesses – particularly those that
lack significant credit history – for startup
and working capital lines of credit. Access
to capital for startups and small businesses
will be a top priority for the Governor’s
Cluster Leadership Council.
b. Increase funding for venture capital
investments and broaden the current
program. Wisconsin lags behind our
neighbors in in capital investment in new
ventures – and is far behind leading states.
In 2012, for instance, there was $95.2
million in venture capital investment in our
state47 – well under half that of Michigan
($242 million)48 or Minnesota ($225.6
million),49 and only about one-eighth
the amount invested in Illinois ($746.1
million).50 And we can’t even begin to
compare with leading states like California,
with nearly $15 billion in venture capital
investment.51 We need to do more if we’re
going to build a more entrepreneurial
economy in Wisconsin. As Governor, I will
quadruple our state’s venture capital fund
from $30 million to $120 million over four
years. I will use this to attract another $250
million in private funding on the same
terms as private investors.
c. Eliminate the ban that prevents Wisconsin’s
Venture Capital Fund from investing in the
life sciences. Wisconsin’s Venture Capital
Fund is currently disallowed from investing
in biotech – even though the University of
Wisconsin-Madison is one of the leading
research institutions in the world, and gets
over half of its over $1 billion in research
funding for life sciences.52
d. Expand the Angel Investor Tax Credit.
Under the Act 255 Angel Investor Tax
Credit program, an individual investor can
claim a 25 percent income tax credit on
the total amount invested in a qualified
new business venture (QNBV).53 This
program, enacted under former Governor
Jim Doyle, led to explosive growth in
early-stage investing in our state – from
$67 million in 2005, the year the credit
was enacted, to $103 million the next year,
and then a further leap to $147 million
in 2007.54 In 2012 the credit helped raise
$164.7 million for Wisconsin startups.55
There’s even more we can do to expand
by making the credit both transferable and
refundable.
e. Create a nonprofit to hold equity in
startups. The state is regularly asked to
support firms with high growth potential
through grants or low-interest loans. These
firms are often capital-constrained despite
their explosive growth potential and yet the
taxpayer doesn’t directly share the upside
when they are successful. By creating a
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non-profit entity to hold equity in these
companies, the state can provide earlystage capital to high-potential companies
and grow a revolving fund to expand
our ability to help promising companies.
And by investing alongside professional
investors (in a sidecar fashion), the
state can rely on the due diligence,
technological evaluation, and equity
pricing of private sector experts.
f. Fight for responsible capital investment,
not “state-certified capital companies”
(CAPCOs). While Wisconsin needs
forward-thinking ideas to attract venture
capital to our state, I firmly oppose
“seeding” private capital firms with state
money. No matter how lobbyists continue
to repackage this strategy, Wisconsin
does not need to repeat the wasteful
mistakes of the past. That approach, while
profitable for a few capital firms, resulted
in the creation of a total 202 jobs for a
$50 million investment. At $247,000
per job, CAPCOs – state-certified capital
companies – are not a strategy we will
revisit on my watch.56
2. Ramp up our culture of entrepreneurship.
a. Include entrepreneurship education in
the state’s K-12 and college curricula.
Entrepreneurship education should be
available and incorporated into the
mainstream curriculum at our public
universities for students of all disciplines –
not just business students. We should also
be introducing entrepreneurial concepts as
early as elementary school – and provide
entrepreneurship skills courses for high
school students as part of an enhanced
career pathways curriculum.
b. Expand the Wisconsin Governor’s
Business Plan Contest – now a decade
old – to highlight the potential and
accomplishments of more new and
launching Wisconsin companies by:
• Doubling the amount available for prizes.
• Establishing new business plan award
categories for:
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- Women- and minority-owned companies.
- Each of the state’s unique economic
development regions.
- Young entrepreneurs under 18.
- Technology-related solutions in all
clusters identified in our state economic
development strategy – including
agriculture, wood and paper, tourism,
food processing, and traditional
manufacturing – not just high-tech sectors
like advanced manufacturing, clean tech,
IT, business services, and life sciences.
• Expanding the assistance available to
include funding from our augmented
Wisconsin Venture Capital Fund – the kind
of help innovative startups need to stay and
grow in Wisconsin.
Some Wisconsin Entrepreneurial
Success Stories:
Started Here, Grew Here
Johnson Controls Inc. – Glendale,
Manpower Inc. – Milwaukee,
Kohl’s Corp. – Menomonee Falls
Oshkosh Corp. – Oshkosh,
Harley?Davidson Inc. – Milwaukee
Northwestern Mutual – Milwaukee
S.C. Johnson & Sons – Racine
American Family Insurance – Madison
U.S. Venture, Inc. – Appleton
Kohler Co. – Kohler
ABC Supply – Beloit
Menard’s – Eau Claire
Epic Systems – Madison
c. Build capacity in entrepreneurial
organizations. Wisconsin should support
the enterprising new organizations
that are already taking the initiative to
lead, train and mentor startups, helping
them to get off the ground and attract
investors. Wisconsin should use economic
development funds to scale up the
proven programs of groups like gener8tor,
BizStarts Milwaukee, and Wisconsin
Women’s Business Initiative Corporation
(WWBIC), which are active in coaching
startups – including women – and
minority-owned businesses – connecting
them with investors, and facilitating
programs and events to support and
accelerate their growth.
d. Establish a Wisconsin Connections
program to facilitate partnerships and
customer relationships between startups
and established Wisconsin companies.
Sometimes more important than capital
is landing that first big customer who
can lend legitimacy to your products
and services. We have great Wisconsin
companies that can act as mentors in this
effort, something that can be facilitated
through the clusters outlined in Strategy 1.
e. Provide state matching funds for federal
Small Business Innovation Research
(SBIR) and Small Business Technology
Transfer (STTR) grants. The Small Business
Innovation Research program funds
small businesses that undertake R&D
on innovative technologies with high
potential for commercialization. Through
a highly competitive award program, SBIR
selects small companies, often startups, to
receive funding to propel their innovations
into viable, profitable ventures. Many
states – but not Wisconsin – offer state
matching funds for the recipients of SBIR
and STTR grants. These funds can help
in part to close the perilous funding gap
that exists between Phases I and II of SBIR
financing – a period during which many
promising ventures fail due to lack of
capital.
f. Create an Entrepreneur in Residence
Program that will bring seasoned CEO’s
with successful startup experience to
university campuses in order to help
identify the most likely commercial
prospects from university intellectual
property inventories.
3. Translate research and development into
startups.
a. Focusing on turning university research
into Wisconsin companies. Great
American universities have become “idea
factories” that are churning out new
businesses. Dozens, if not hundreds, of
ventures have been created out of the UW
System and other research organizations,
but we need to supercharge this effort. I
will lead the effort to get the ideas from
the bench-top to the business world.
Research We Can Build On
Wisconsin is proud to be home to University
Research Park (URP) at Madison, which houses
125 companies and employs nearly 4,000 workers
on the cutting-edge of technological innovation.
Forbes Magazine recently named URP as one of
“12 business incubators changing the world.”
Institutions like these attract millions of dollars in
growth-oriented federal and private investments
to Wisconsin. Wisconsin must continue to build on
and replicate shining successes like URP as we
grow the impact of our other research hubs, such
as the Milwaukee Technology Innovation Center,
Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation, and the
Children’s Hospital of Fox Valley.http://universityresearchpark.org/newsroom/
I’ll start by building on initiatives like
the new D2P, or Discovery to Product,
program,57 a partnership between UWMadison and the Wisconsin Alumni
Research Foundation (WARF). D2P
was established to spin research and
ideas from students and faculty into
new companies.
I will establish a Wisconsin Innovation
Fund focused exclusively on turning
innovative research into cutting-edge
products and businesses. The Fund
will target our universities’ traditional
strengths: physical sciences and
engineering; agriculture; medical
21
devices; computer science; information
technology; and drug development.
b. Allow the University of Wisconsin to
participate in classified government
research. The UW System is currently
prohibited from conducting top secret
or classified research. This limits the
federal funding that our research facilities
are eligible for, and costs our state jobs,
investment, and future opportunities in
cutting-edge technologies. As Governor, I
would sign legislation to remove this band,
and I would work to pursue valuable
classified research opportunities.
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c. Veto any legislation banning stem cell
research. If we are to fully leverage our
world-renowned scientific resources
in growing our economy, and attract
top scientists to make world-changing
discoveries at our academic institutions, we
must once and for all assure the scientific
community that researchers will not be held
hostage to politics – or they will take their
valuable work to another state. I will veto
any legislation that would tie the hands of
scientists who are using stem cell research
to pursue life-saving treatments and to
improve the lives of people living with
debilitating conditions, from paralysis to
Parkinson’s disease.
Strategy 4: Position Wisconsin to be highly competitive
in the global marketplace.
Background: Wisconsin has what it takes to be
highly competitive, not only with other states, but
with other countries. Exports are critical to state
economies and Wisconsin’s is no exception – but
“Wisconsin workers and manufacturers
and technology companies can compete
with anyone in the world. But to compete
and win, we can’t rest on our laurels. Our
state has to be far more aggressive in
promoting Wisconsin manufacturers and
technology companies and growing our
relationships in the global marketplace.”
Source:http://www.slcatlanta.org/
news/research.php?post_id=50
– Mary Burke
we have much greater potential for growth. In
2013, we exported $23 billion worth of goods
– slightly less (0.2 percent) than we exported in
2012 – to trading partners like Canada, Mexico,
China, Japan and Germany.58 If our exports had
just grown at the national average, according to
the US Department of Commerce we would have
generated over 5,000 more jobs since 2010.59
Our exports include $6.8 billion in industrial
machinery, $2.3 billion in medical and scientific
instruments, $2.2 billion in electrical machinery
and $1.9 billion in vehicles. Our manufacturing
and agricultural resource intense economy, along
Slow Export Growth
Wisconsin manufactured exports have grown
more slowly than those of our nation as a
whole since 2009. This is a red flag that we
need to be doing more to remain competitive.http://www.nam.org/~/media/E1E5CB388C704F3EABCCB0F52C8E5211.ashx
http://inwisconsin.com/exporting/wisconsin-export-data/
with our internationally accessible location, gives
us a natural advantage in exports with industrial
machinery, vehicles, farm products, electrical
machinery and medical equipment leading the
way. In fact, we are currently the third largest dairy
export state in the U.S., exporting nearly $282
million in dairy products.60 61 62
Selling great Wisconsin products overseas worked
for Trek – and I know it can work for companies
all across Wisconsin. By making smart investments
in sales and distribution abroad, we were able to
grow Trek’s European sales from $3 million to $50
million annually in just a few short years. Ensuring
that other companies have the supports needed to
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sell internationally will help this bright spot in our
economy flourish.
Vision: We need to grow an economy in
Wisconsin that aggressively pursues global
opportunities and is attractive to international
investment. We must look for opportunities
beyond our state borders, exporting more of our
goods and services to other states while growing
markets around the world.
How we get there: Build on our manufacturing
and technology muscle and compete
worldwide.
1. Expand export-led growth.
When Wisconsin companies export products
from our state to foreign markets, and when
capital flows into Wisconsin from outside
our borders, it creates wealth and new jobs.
a. Executive-level commitment to export
growth. High-profile promotion of a
state export strategy should come from
the Governor’s office to ensure that
the activities of the state’s economic
development agencies are in alignment
with the overarching export promotion
strategy, and that exports are a strong
component of Wisconsin’s cluster-led
development strategy. As a high-level
state priority, efforts to consolidate
broad-based cooperation among private
and institutional partners will be more
effective, as will media attention to
heighten awareness of new opportunities –
especially among first-time exporters.
b. Launch a Wisconsin Export Fund to
fund forward-looking proposals that are
designed to help Wisconsin enterprises
become even more globally competitive.
Development funds will be awarded to
implement the best plans proposed by
state agencies, cluster-based organizations,
public-private partnerships, or private
economic development organizations
involved in exports from any sector, on a
competitive basis.
c. Expand our state’s overseas marketing
efforts. My Administration will not only
24
increase overseas marketing efforts where
there is untapped potential, but will
also develop performance standards for
our field offices to better measure the
state’s return on investment in its export
assistance program.
d. Provide localized, comprehensive early-stage
assistance to Wisconsin-based companies
to increase exports. We will create trade
alliances and a unified strategy that
leverages existing export promotion groups
and simplifies the process of navigating
these resources – such as dedicated export
counseling assistance for companies and
cluster-based organizations that may be
exploring exporting opportunities for the first
time. Export resources must be coordinated
and leveraged to:
• Proactively identify businesses and
industry clusters with significant untapped
export potential.
• Launch a statewide campaign to
increase commercial awareness of export
opportunities and resources, including
federal and private export finance
programs, and technical training for export
managers.
• Engage and assist cluster-based
organizations to integrate a robust export
program into their growth strategy.
• Connect businesses to export opportunities
by expanding access to and promotion of
trade programs and events that connect
U.S. sellers and foreign buyers.
• Market export assistance to businesses that
are not traditional exporters. Discounts
and promotions can be made available
for new or potential exporters to attend
informational seminars or training sessions.
2. Bring foreign manufacturing back to
Wisconsin.
”Offshoring” (or “outsourcing”) American
manufacturing jobs to other localities
where labor is cheaper has been the dismal
trend for over thirty years. But today, many
companies are beginning to realize that
moving their manufacturing and supply
operations overseas has hurt their ability to
serve their customers. A recent survey of
manufacturers with operations abroad found
that well over half (61%) were considering
“reshoring” – or “in-sourcing” – their
manufacturing operations back to the U.S.
to be closer to their customers, to provide
better service, and to cut transportation costs.
Nearly half of these manufacturers (49%)
reported that overseas they experienced
problems with delivery time, operations,
planning, flexibility, and total cost – and 46%
experienced quality control issues.63 Rising
energy and fuel costs are also encouraging
businesses to bring production home. But
there is no lack of competition to attract these
companies.
As Governor, I will launch a Wisconsin INSourcing Initiative (WIN) that will specialize
in recruiting (and retaining) manufacturers
back from abroad by:
a. Launching a WIN Team, a committee of
economic development professionals
that serves as a single point of contact
for businesses considering locating or
expanding in Wisconsin. The team will
work with manufacturing businesses
– especially those with international
production sites – to introduce them to the
many advantages that Wisconsin can offer
to meet their specific business needs.
b. Streamlining access to financial assistance
for manufacturers. The WIN Team
will consolidate all available financial
assistance for manufacturing companies
from state and other sources, with the
ability to offer loans, loan guarantees, and
equity financing, and to make referrals
to appropriate private investment groups
to finance the relocation or expansion of
operations to Wisconsin.
c. Working with manufacturers to identify
their important suppliers who could also
be relocated to the state – this will have
the added benefit of making our state
more attractive to manufacturers and also
lowering costs and increasing efficiency
for our existing companies – bringing even
more new jobs to Wisconsin.
3. Leverage our existing international
relationships.
a. Leverage academic relationships. We will
work with our institutions of higher learning
to institute a formal program to identify
investment and export opportunities in
targeted clusters through the associations
and contacts of our universities’ research
faculty.
b. Expand trade opportunities through our
immigrant communities. Immigrantowned companies may be an untapped
resource in generating new export-led
economic activity in Wisconsin. We
should develop a “Heartland-to-Homeland”
Trade Consortium for immigrant-owned
companies to help entrepreneurial-minded
immigrants in Wisconsin to promote trade
with their homelands that create new jobs
and wealth in Wisconsin.
c. Invest in International and Language
Education. We must integrate a strong
international component into all of our
business programs at our state universities
and colleges. In the 21st Century, virtually
every business has the potential to compete
internationally and business leaders who
understand this well – and who can speak
a second language fluently – have an
advantage in the global economy. Language
study and international exchanges should
be incorporated as mainstream parts of our
business education curricula.
d. Promote the benefits of a Wisconsin
education – and a Wisconsin business
degree in particular – to international
students. Enhancing Wisconsin’s
attractiveness to foreign students yields a
short-term boost to the economy through full
tuition payments and other in-state spending,
and also lays the groundwork for future
export ventures. A special emphasis should
be placed on Wisconsin’s top-notch business
programs, where the connections that foster
international trade are often formed.
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Strategy 5: Create a climate to grow jobs and a
high-quality workforce.
Background: Wisconsin needs to invest in creating
the proper environment for businesses to thrive
and grow from within. This means making
government effective, efficient, and accountable.
It also means building needed economic
infrastructure to support business growth. But
most of all it means building the kinds of vibrant
communities – whether in dense urban cores
or rural areas – that will attract and retain the
hard-working and high-skilled young people
who represent our future. These are the people
businesses want to employ. If we don’t invest in
making sure that Wisconsin remains a good place
to live, work, and raise a family, then it won’t be a
vibrant place to grow a business either.
Vision: We can ensure Wisconsin is a great place to
live, work, and grow a business by making the right
investments and building the physical and virtual
connections that strengthen our communities as
well as our businesses. We must hold the line on
taxes so that businesses and private citizens can
put their money to work in their own communities
to build the dreams they are working toward. We
need to invest in the infrastructure that business
and communities rely on, like high-speed Internet
and transportation. And we need to re-invest in
strengthening our urban and rural communities
alike to ensure they offer the high quality of life that
young professionals and families seek in a place to
put down roots.
How we get there: 6 steps toward removing
barriers to growth and helping every part of
Wisconsin create jobs.
1. Improve our business climate.
a. Cut red tape. Excessive bureaucracy
and complicated paperwork burdens
Wisconsin businesses – especially young
companies, for whom money is scarce
and time is at a premium. One important
way we can improve Wisconsin’s business
climate is by making it more efficient for
businesses to deal with government. My
26
Administration will:
• Bring greater speed and certainty to
government permitting decisions without
sacrificing environmental and public safety
protections.
• Improve customer service for businesses
– ensuring that anytime a business has an
issue with a state agency, they can call one
number and get what they need. Great
customer service shouldn’t be limited to
Wisconsin’s best businesses – it should exist
on the part of the state too.
• Streamline regulations and the regulatory
process by making sure that rules are written
with the small business owner in mind. A
business owner should not have to hire a
lawyer and an accountant and a consultant
to understand the rules that govern his or her
business. Simplifying regulations and plain
language requirements will lower the costs
of doing business, which will be especially
signficant for small firms.
b. Identify and cut wasteful state government
spending.
• Cut needless government spending. No
businessperson believes in spending money
on things we don’t need. There are plenty of
ways to cut government spending without
cutting vital investments and services. I
will bring to state government a business
efficiency perspective, and a range of ideas
for changing how Madison works. We will:
- Institute continuous improvement
initiatives, as is standard business practice.
- Identify savings in our corrections budget
that don’t jeopardize public safety through
consolidation and contracting reforms that
improve efficiency and reduce costs.
- Encourage communities to merge and
cost-share services.
- Review vacant positions for continuing
need.
- Conduct a top-to-bottom efficiency
audit of state government to eliminate
waste, fraud, abuse, and inefficiency. An
efficiency commission would present a
package of savings recommendations to
the Legislature for an up or down vote to
neutralize special interests.
c. Hold the line on taxes. Now is not the time
to impose additional economic burdens on
Wisconsinites. Wisconsin’s property taxes
as a percentage of median income are 8th
highest in the country, and state and local
income taxes rates rank 14th highest.64 65
We will hold the line on overall tax levels,
while working to reduce the tax burden on
individuals, families, and businesses as our
economy and tax base grows. If Wisconsin
had been creating jobs at just the same
rate as the national average in recent years,
our state economy would be $1.9 billion
larger. The best way to generate revenues
to fund government services is to grow
the economy. And by instituting the kinds
of savings I just outlined, we’ll be able to
make the investments in economic growth
discussed in this plan, and still hold the
lines on taxes – and that’s just what I’ll do.
d. Fund the needed investments in this
Strategy. Below, I highlight different
priorities that the state and local units
of government need to address together.
From infrastructure to tourism and the
arts, we need to be smart about how we’re
investing every single public dollar. As I’ve
said, the revenues required to make these
investments won’t come from raising taxes
– they’ll come from a growing economy,
closing loopholes, and identifying savings
in government spending of things we don’t
need – so we can fund the things we do
need.
2. Invest in infrastructure.
a. Maximize federal funding available for
essential infrastructure projects. In today’s
economy, infrastructure – from broadband
to transportation – is a significant factor
in economic competitiveness and
educational effectiveness. Access to
high-speed Internet is a prerequisite for
communities in every corner of Wisconsin
to participate in technology-based
economic development and education. But
the Walker Administration turned down
a $23 million federal grant to expand
broadband to more Wisconsin schools and
libraries.66 Wisconsin ranks 22nd among
states in average broadband speed and 26th
in adoption of high-speed broadband.67
Statewide, 11.9% of households don’t
use the Internet at all – and in some
communities that percentage is much
higher.68 When Governor Walker rejected
the high-speed rail to connect Madison to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s $820 million in
federal funds for the line was given to other
states like California and Florida, to connect
their cities with high-speed rail.69 70 I will
aggressively leverage every penny of federal
funding available to build and improve our
essential infrastructure – from roads, to rail,
to Internet – or our state will be left at the
station.
b. Link our infrastructure investment
strategy to our economic development
goals, prioritizing investments by their
real economic impact – including job
creation. For example, modest investments
in improving the transportation options to
and from our airports can make more of
Wisconsin accessible to business travelers
and tourists alike – which can also make
our airports more attractive for lower-cost
carriers looking to expand their direct flight
routes. It makes sense to invest first in the
projects expected to create the greatest
economic benefit. Funding for high-impact
infrastructure projects will be prioritized
based on transparent economic analysis
of and clear metrics as to the project’s
economic value – including the economic
impact of the jobs created – and not on
inside political dealing.
c. Hold our infrastructure investments to
performance and accountability measures
for economic impact. Once we have
completed our prioritized projects, we
must then measure the results of these
investments using established economic
impact metrics for economic development
– such as jobs created, increased revenue,
27
and other measures of each project’s
explicit goals.
3. Support the building of strong regional
economies.
When we talk about Wisconsin’s economy,
we must always remember we are really
talking about many economies. The
economically diverse regions of our state are
anything but one-size-fits-all. While we have
lost jobs in Northern Wisconsin, in part due
to falling tourist receipts, jobs are growing at
a rate nearly five times the national average
in South Central Wisconsin, where the
information technology sector is vibrant.
Earnings are higher than the national and
state averages in Western Wisconsin, where
economic growth is diversified, but lagging
in Fox Valley – Northeast, even as jobs are
holding steady.71 Our strategy for statewide
prosperity must recognize and leverage
these differences, and local knowledge,
when it comes to strengthening our regional
economies.
a. Develop a Community Infrastructure
Priority Grant Program to support
transformative local projects. Economic
development organizations exist
throughout Wisconsin at the regional,
county, city and community levels, but
their potential to pursue high-impact
economic development is limited by
resources in their local area. These
groups can yield even greater impact
if they can leverage state funds, along
with private investment, in order to
implement the best ideas and economic
development initiatives for their region.
As Governor, I will empower our regional
economic development organizations
by establishing a Regional Priority Grant
Program. Economic and community
development groups or partnerships of all
sizes will compete for the funds through
a competitive RFP process, and selected
projects will be required to leverage local
and/or private funding in addition to state
funds. While statewide action is needed
to maximize the impact of a coordinated
28
cluster strategy, regional agencies are
essential to responding to the specific
conditions, opportunities, and challenges
Strengthening Community
Infrastructure Partnerships
We must empower Wisconsin’s economic
development groups that understand the
local growth potential of our regions, in order
to maximize their strengths. These groups
include (but are not limited to):
MadREP (Madison Region Economic Partnership)
The New North
Milwaukee 7
Centergy – Central Wisconsin Alliance for
Economic Development
Visions Northwest
7 Rivers Alliance
Prosperity Southwest
Grow North
faced by industries at the local level
throughout Wisconsin.
b. Promote local clusters, too, as the
backbone of our local economies. While
traded clusters representing nationally
and globally competing firms are the
focus of much attention, local clusters –
those which are geographically limited,
such as health care – account for 70
percent of U.S. employment.72 There is
significant untapped economic potential
in developing business-to-business
relationships in local clusters. For example
small, local firms that grow and develop
within local clusters in turn become
well positioned to expand into even
more profitable partnerships with larger,
corporate firms beyond the local cluster.
c. Target local areas where unemployment
is highest. I will assign a “Jobs Today”
Task Force for any county that experiences
unemployment rates above the state’s
average by 30 percent or more over a
period of one year. The Task Force will
consist of a dedicated facilitator assigned
to bring together local officials, business
leaders, and economic development
practitioners to develop a concrete action
plan for increasing employment in the
local area to the state average.
4. Leverage anchor institutions to generate
wealth in urban communities.
Universities, hospitals, foundations, industry
research centers and large employers are
examples of “anchor institutions.” Anchor
institutions provide more inner-city jobs
than any other sector, and are the number
one employer in 66 percent of U.S. innercity communities.73 Anchor institutions
employ many people directly, but they
also are powerful catalysts for creating
new wealth through small local businesses
that supply and support their operations.
They keep money working locally through
employment, and the goods and services
they purchase, contributing to new asset
growth in the neighborhood. We must
maximize the many untapped opportunities
for channeling more institutional spending
into local procurement – and the
development of thriving business clusters
around these institutions.
a. Promote the formation of communitybased businesses and cooperative
ventures by matching anchor institutions
and their local vendors with community
Business Development Partners. Anchor
institutions are hubs of local commerce
around which entrepreneurial training,
mentorship, and cooperation between
complementary businesses have proven
to be possible through the formation of
community-based cooperatives. Anchor
institutions benefit by having more
reliable, higher quality, and geographically
closer services available to them – and a
more stable workforce. I will ensure that
economic development funds are made
available for these proven models of job
and business creation.
b. Emphasize local procurement among
anchor institutions for job creation –
especially in low-income communities.
While investment in technological
innovation is a high-end, and important,
component of economic growth, less
attention has been paid to the potential
economic impact of anchor institutions
as a source of local job and wealth
creation among low-income communities.
We can further increase this impact by
encouraging that state funding for anchor
institutions be used to procure local goods
and services.
c. Involve anchor institutions in
neighborhood revitalization and
workforce housing and home ownership
programs. Anchor institutions have a
vested interest in the economic well-being
of the neighborhoods they do business
in, and in which their employees live and
work. I will direct the Wisconsin Housing
and Economic Development Authority
(WHEDA) to engage these employers
and other community development
partners to replicate proven, win-win
programs to stabilize neighborhoods
by helping employees to purchase and
improve single-family dwellings in the
neighborhood.
d. Create programs for research
collaboration and technology transfer
between anchor institutions and startup
firms that purchase and/or lease land in
adjacent areas targeted for revitalization.
Anchor institutions are often associated
with high-tech industry clusters like
bioscience, because of the potential for
research collaboration and technology
transfer at universities and hospitals.
Win-win programs such as these have led
to the creation of high-value clusters in
previously blighted areas, creating jobs in
manufacturing as well as lab work.
e. Provide expert technical assistance to
anchor institutions for the purpose of
projecting future job needs, and then
engage local technical colleges to prepare
local residents to fill these jobs.
5. Grow our rural economies.
We recently learned that Wisconsin has lost
29
nearly 9,000 farms – or 11 percent of total
farms – in a period of just 5 years. Those
losses are more than double the national
average of about 4 percent.74 Wisconsin
ranks 10th among states for number of farms,
but the total acreage devoted to farming is
shrinking.75 Meanwhile the average age of
Wisconsin’s farm owner-operator is over
56 years old, while the number of farmers
under age 45 fell by over 27 percent over
the same five-year period. The loss of small
family farms is of serious concern, since
they represent the economic lifeblood and
cultural legacy of rural communities across
the state. But agriculture is not the only
business of rural Wisconsin. In addition to
the service and retail businesses that serve
rural communities, rural Wisconsin is home
30
to bedrock industries like forest products and
tourism. Strengthening our farm economy
isn’t the only thing we need to do to grow
rural Wisconsin – but it’s where we need to
start.
We must ensure that agriculture remains a
viable livelihood for the next generation of
Wisconsin family farmers, and also support
economic development that brings needed
new jobs to rural communities.
a. Ensure the long-term survival of family
farms by helping them modernize,
with the assistance of our agricultural
programs at the UW System and technical
colleges. We need to refocus the efforts of
agricultural programs at our universities
and technical colleges, along with
UW-Extension on assisting small- and
family farms to adopt modern, and even
cutting-edge, technologies, processes,
and practices to make their operations
more competitive. These institutions can
provide a wide range of support to a new
generation of small farmers to help them
to improve productivity and profitability.
Research and new technologies have
played a significant role to increase
yields and reduce costs throughout the
agricultural system. New technologies –
like GPS systems to guide farm machinery
and reduce overlap, early pest detection,
identification of soil nutrient deficiencies,
detection of plant stress, use of yield
monitoring equipment – can significantly
help farmers be more productive. Other
areas where small farm support can be
enhanced include:
• Digester technologies. New technologies
for handling livestock waste and
wastewater include anaerobic digesters
that can resolve land and water
contamination while at the same time
converting the harmful waste into a source
of renewable, locally-generated energy.76
• Organic agriculture. Wisconsin is a
leading state in organic agriculture; it is
first in organic dairy and organic beef
production, and in the top five states for
organically farmed acreage.77 Many small
farmers could benefit from technical and
financial assistance in pursuing the organic
certification process – as well as expert
guidance in tapping new growth markets,
and profiting from add-value organic
products, either directly or as a supplier.
• Creating new incubator farms. An
incubator farm, like other entrepreneurial
incubators, is a place where aspiring
farmers can have temporary, affordable
access to small parcels of land and
infrastructure, training, practice, and
mentorship for the purpose of honing skills
and launching farm businesses.78
• Expanding intern programs to provide
help to small farmers and also give
students direct agricultural education and
experience.
• Developing new programs that match
new farmers with those retiring who have
no successors interested in continuing the
family farm.
• Financing assistance programs to make
it easier and more affordable to transition
ownership of smaller farms from retiring
owner-operators to new farmers and to
modernize.
• Supporting the development of publicprivate partnerships by working to match
small farmers with business professionals
to help farmers improve management,
develop new markets plans and improve
use of risk management tools and riskreduction strategies.
b. Promote the replication of Food Hubs for
helping small farmers get their produce
to retail markets, profitably. The Food
Hub model, exemplified by the Wisconsin
Food Hub Cooperative (WFHC), helps
local farmers through marketing, sales,
aggregation, and logistics, to access
wholesale markets.79 Farmers capture a
greater share of their product’s value, and
large buyers in the retail, foodservice,
and institutional sectors have more
opportunities to buy locally – keeping
more money in our communities and
regional economies.
c. Enhance our state’s promotion of
agritourism initiatives. In Wisconsin,
agriculture is a cherished cultural asset,
as well as an economic one. We can
build upon this strength by introducing
our traditional and modern rural farmways, techniques, and lifestyle to a wider
audience through agritourism – while
marketing agricultural products and
services to new and wider markets. We
must support the efforts of the Wisconsin
Agritourism Association in our state
tourism campaigns, and engage diverse
rural communities and entrepreneurs
throughout the state. The initiative will
serve to:
• Promote Wisconsin agritourism
internationally to raise awareness among
global travelers visiting the U.S who have
31
a particular interest in rural farm-ways,
technologies, and experiences.
• Educate and train farmers and
entrepreneurs in rural communities about
opportunities in the growing agritourism
trend.
• Create opportunities for joint marketing,
to help small and rural farmers and
entrepreneurs access much wider markets.
6. Leverage federal funding for needed
investments.
Wisconsin’s federal funds gap is among the
highest in the country at $13 billion.80 81 That
means that, of the $45 billion Wisconsin
taxpayers send to the federal government
every year, only 86 cents of every dollar is
returned here in federal spending.82 We must
insist on our state getting its fair share of our
hard-earned income, and do more to win
all the federal funding available for grants
and procurement, advanced research and
economic development projects, reduce
our federal funding gap, and bring our fair
share of federal tax dollars back to our state
– beginning with acceptance of the federal
expansion of Medicaid.
My Administration will aggressively
pursue federal dollars by establishing
a Governor’s Grants Office to identify
federal grant opportunities across the
entire state. Wisconsin should pursue new
federal funding for defense, transportation,
research, social services, health care and
other industries, and continually maximize
available funding to accelerate our highwage, fast-growing advanced technology
and life sciences economies statewide –
not only at UW-Madison. Competition for
federal and private grants has increased
in the current economic climate, and a
dedicated office to ensure we qualify for
these funds has the potential to bring billions
of dollars to our state.
32
How We’ll Know We’re on the Right Track
In business, leaders are not judged on their
goals; they are not even judged by their
promises or pledges. They are judged by their
results.
Goal-setting is a first step – but it is only the first
step. What counts is how performance stacks
up against those goals in ways that can be
measured and verified objectively. As Governor,
I will put in place the tools for objective,
verifiable monitoring of our state’s progress.
In business, you have to back your claims with
facts. State government must be held to the
same standard. As Governor, I will institute a
system of performance management to ensure
not only that I am accountable to the citizens of
Wisconsin in doing my job, but also that each
and every state official and agency knows where
we stand in relation to where we want to be, and
whether their organization is on track to deliver
the results that Wisconsinites rightfully demand.
Most importantly, we will always have our eye
on exactly what the people of Wisconsin care
about most: growing our economy, expanding
opportunity, and creating jobs: When I’m
Governor, that will be our business, and I will do
it effectively, efficiently, and with accountability.
I will begin my term by creating an online
Wisconsin Jobs Dashboard that makes clear to
state officials and to every citizen exactly what
we’re measuring, and why and whether we are
on track to achieve what we set out to do – the
way that business professionals do.
To ensure we get on, and stay on, the right track
for economic prosperity, the Wisconsin Jobs
Dashboard will display measurements for:
• Rate of New Job Creation: Too many
Wisconsinites are still struggling to get back to
work, and too many young people not finding
career opportunities. It is not acceptable that
we are now creating new jobs at half the rate
of the rest of the country. If our neighbors are
outpacing us, we’re on the wrong track.
• Representative Metric(s): Wisconsin job
growth; labor force growth; Wisconsin
state ranking in job growth; and job growth
relative to neighboring states are metrics that
will also be tracked regionally across the
state, since in order for Wisconsin to thrive
all of our regions must be thriving.
• Our Measure of Success: Our goal is for
job creation to outpace the nation until our
workers catch up, and then set our sights
on becoming a thriving Top 10 Economy in
terms of job growth.
• Wage and Income Growth: Every new job
created in Wisconsin is good news. But over
time, the types of jobs being created matters to
our state and the standard of living our citizens
can expect for themselves and their families.
Wisconsin has a nearly $4,000 wage gap with
the rest of the country.83 Wisconsin needs to
make progress in creating more jobs that pay
enough to support a family.
• Representative Metric(s): Average wage; per
capita personal income; median household
income (statewide and by region).
• Our Measure of Success: Our goal is to
increase the average wage for Wisconsin
workers and work toward the longer-term
goal of exceeding the national average.
• Traded Cluster Metrics: To ensure strong job
growth and focus on our traded clusters,
Wisconsin needs to measure progress on a
cluster-by-cluster basis. Our traded clusters are
especially important because of the role they
play in driving the overall economy. We’ll track
employment, output, wages, and exports within
each cluster. While every cluster will have its
own unique dynamics, our goal is to strengthen
each cluster, capitalize on our competitive
advantages, and maximize its economic value.
• Representative Metric(s): Cluster
employment, cluster wages, cluster output,
cluster exports, cluster foreign direct
investment.
• Our Measure of Success: To outperform
the nation in as many clusters as possible
33
in both growing clusters and in fighting
to maintain jobs in historically strong but
challenged clusters.
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship Measures: We
know that innovation and entrepreneurship
play a vital role in increasing economic growth
and fostering the creation of new companies
with rapid growth potential. For too long
Wisconsin has failed to fully capitalize on
our assets. We need to track and improve our
performance by expanding and capitalizing on
our innovation and entrepreneurship potential.
• Representative Metric(s): State New
Economy Index, Kauffman Index of
Entrepreneurial Activity, patents per capita,
angel and venture capital per capita,
research spending per capita, new business
formation – identified by both traded and
local clusters.
• Our Measure of Success: Maintain
leadership in areas such as research
spending, and expand capital availability
and innovation capacity to become a leader
in commercialization and entrepreneurship.
• Workforce Strength: Business leaders,
economists, and economic development
professionals are increasingly focused on
and concerned with the availability of a
well-trained workforce. As technology and
global competition intensifies, skilled workers
increasingly make the competitive difference.
We need to significantly increase capacity and
reorient our education around employment
needs and job growth.
• Representative Metric(s): High school
graduation rates; number and percentage
of high school students with career plans,
number and percentage of population
with associate and bachelor degrees, and
professional certificates; number and
percentage of college graduates staying
in-state; employer-reported ease of hiring
employees with needed skills
• Our Measure of Success: Grow our skilled
and educated workforce to meet job needs
and compete for jobs of the future.
• State and Local Taxes and Fees: An important
part of the state’s overall economic climate
34
is the share of income that businesses and
families have to pay for government services.
We will reduce that share over time by holding
the line on taxes, making government more
efficient and growing the tax base.
• Representative Metric(s): Share of annual
income paid in combined state and local
taxes and fees by businesses and families;
national ranking on combined state and
local taxes and fees by businesses and
families;
• Our Measure of Success: Maintain an
adequate state and local tax base to
continue providing needed government
services while growing incomes to lower the
share of income paid in taxes and fees.
Together, the elements of this plan – a clearheaded assessment of where we stand today,
the interlocking strategies we need to get where
we want to be, and the metrics to manage
our way to these results and hold everyone in
government, including me, accountable – are
what we need to produce real economic growth
and job creation here in Wisconsin.
I know that this business-like approach will
work, because I’ve made it work in the business
and non-profit sectors. The difference is simply
that, if we want state government to create jobs
like a business, we most of all need a CEO who
means business. We will when I am Governor.
References
Source: “Source: Prof. Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School, www.isc.hbs.edu; U.S. Cluster
Mapping Project,www.clustermapping.us, Richard Bryden, Project Director”
Source: “Source: Prof. Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School, www.isc.hbs.edu; U.S. Cluster
Mapping Project,www.clustermapping.us, Richard Bryden, Project Director”
35
36
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37
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Letter from Mary Burke? p. a
Invest for Success Overview? p. 3
Strategy 1:?Clusters of Opportunity? p. 5
Strategy 2:?Closing the Degree Gap and Connecting Middle-class
Working People to 21st Century jobs? p. 10
Strategy 3:?Investing in the ideas and entrepreneurs who will create
the next generation of growth businesses? p. 18
Strategy 4:?Position Wisconsin to be highly competitive in the global
marketplace? p. 23
Strategy 5:?Creating a climate to grow jobs and a high-quality
workforce? p. 26
References? p. 35
Burke for Wisconsin? |?P.O. Box 2479? |?Madison, WI 53701? |?(608) 807-0602
burkeforwisconsin.com
burkeforwisconsin
@Burke4WI
Paid for by Burke for Wisconsin, Sheila Conroy, Treasurer
doc_821277959.pdf