Kansas will stride into 2013 smiling.
Unemployment dropped to 5.4 percent in November while the national rate was 7.7 percent. Personal income increased strongly, driven primarily by high commodity prices that boosted farm families. Kansas was No. 11 among the 50 states in income growth from the second to the third quarter of the year — that puts us in the top 20 percent. We’re a leader!
Nothing in the visible future will change that picture. If rainfall returns to past averages, those high prices will put even more in farm bank accounts as production soars.
Oil and gas production joined agriculture to boost the state’s economy.
The Kansas Corporation Commission told the Legislature’s Joint Energy and Environmental Policy Committee in its November report that the number of “intents to drill” increased sharply. The average monthly number is 600. The October total climbed to 794. There were 140 drilling rigs active in Kansas and 18 of those were horizontal rigs used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking).
A lot of those rigs were drilling in this part of the state. The most new production increases were reported in Anderson, Barber, Franklin and Woodson counties.
In addition to these new wells, drilling into the Mississippi limestone along a 100-mile-wide band running from Goodland to Harper County by major oil companies is expected to generate another sustained boom that will enrich the state.
Kansas manufacturing is also on the upswing, as it is in other parts of the nation. That trend should continue as more and more corporations discover it is once again becoming more profitable to manufacture in the U.S. than in other nations. Wages in China continue to increase at about 18 percent a year — a rate that has made a startup there far less attractive than it once was.
Kansas should capitalize on that fact and build in additional long-term insurance by focusing on processing plants which use agricultural products as raw material. Plants that make grain, meat and fiber into products ready for a consumer to buy will be far more stable employers because they can’t be moved to Mexico or some other competing country that chases lower wages and benefits.
Manufacturing in partnership with Kansas farmers would capitalize on our state’s greatest strengths. Our farms are among the world’s most productive. The work ethic in our state assures employers of high productivity rates. Our community colleges and research universities work with industry to produce a top-flight work force and cutting edge technology.
As the 2013 Legislature begins its session, its leaders and Gov. Sam Brownback should build on these strengths. Perhaps the greatest challenge that faces them is to make certain the state’s education system is up to the challenge. Pre-school programs must be strong. Research shows children who are ready and eager to learn when they enter first grade rarely drop out and usually succeed.
At the other end of the system, states with superior community colleges and top-rank four-year, research universities create thriving towns and cities. Our leaders must make certain Kansas makes the necessary investment in education to provide each new generation with a full opportunity to achieve individual goals and, in so doing, make Kansas an even better place to live and make a difference.
— Emerson Lynn, jr.
