More Companies Promise Jobs In Indiana

Photo: vxla (Flickr)

Canadian National Railways was one of the 219 companies to promise jobs in 2011, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

Indianapolis-based Angie’s List, Columbus’ Cummins Inc., and Next Wave Systems in Bloomington are three of 219 companies that have promised to create more jobs in Indiana, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC).

This past year, the companies committed to creating more than 19,000 new jobs over the next five years. The number of companies that made commitments is up from 200 businesses in 2010, but the promised new hires are down from 23,000, according to the IEDC.

The IEDC says its announcement is still good news.

“With our low-cost, fiscally sound business climate, Indiana continues to catch the attention and win the investment of more and more companies,” Dan Hasler, Secretary of Commerce and chief executive officer of the IEDC, said in a press release.

Angie’s List says it tends to hire workers from Indianapolis and the surrounding areas and it plans to continue doing so in the near future.

“We announced earlier this year that we were going to stay in the downtown Indianapolis area, and we’re thrilled to be able to do that,” Angie’s List spokesperson Cheryl Reed says. “Our plans are by 2015, possibly before, to have added up to 500 new jobs.”

The IEDC says those jobs also pay good wages. The average job added in Indiana should pay $21.22 per hour, slightly above the state’s current average hourly wage of $19.17.

The non-automotive manufacturing sector promised the largest number of jobs, followed by the automotive manufacturing industry. A sizeable portion of the jobs are also coming from 34 companies that plan to move all or part of their operations to the state.