Service Area Market Analysis: Environmental Scanning.

This environmental scanning report presents, in brief, various key indicators: political climate, population demographics, secondary education, postsecondary education, welfare, unemployment, industry, labor, and general conclusions. General conclusions made in this report are as follows: higher education is expected to receive a slight increase in general funds, but the bulk of the budget will go to K-12 education; the budgets for Corrections and Medicaid will receive the largest percent increases in order to accommodate the state's growing and aging population; the state's population will continue to increase above the national rate; the fastest growing segment of the population over the next decade will be the "over 35" age group, which will have an impact on virtually all sectors of the government and economy; the number of high school graduates is also expected to increase; welfare-to-work requirements may translate into a larger labor force in need of education, training, and retraining; the unemployment rate for the state is, for the 11th straight year, below the national rate and the service industry is the fastest growing employment sector and includes jobs requiring a wide range of education and training. (VWC)