WASHINGTON, DC — Global warming legislation that mandates a huge reduction in carbon dioxide emissions would hit Indiana’s economy harder than any other state, according to an analysis by The Heritage Foundation.

The Waxman-Markey bill currently under consideration in Congress seeks to cut emissions from fossil fuels by 83 percent. To do so, it would create a cap-and-trade system that would raise energy prices dramatically. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would cost the typical American household an extra $1,600 annually within a decade.

Indiana emerged as the state most at risk from cap-and-trade. Its large manufacturing sector accounts for nearly 20 percent of all employment.

But energy-intensive businesses – such as manufacturers – would pay a far greater price. And those manufacturers most dependent on coal-generated power would be the most severely crippled.

To determine which areas of the country would be hit hardest, Heritage researchers devised a simple “Manufacturing Vulnerability Index” that reflects both the degree to which regional employment is concentrated in manufacturing and the degree to which it is dependent on coal-generated energy. The greater a region’s reliance on manufacturing and coal, the more vulnerable it would be to severe job loss resulting from the proposed $1.9 trillion cap-and-trade plan.

Indiana emerged as the state most at risk from cap-and-trade. Its large manufacturing sector – more than 600,000 jobs accounting for nearly 20 percent of all employment – combined with a heavy reliance on coal (94 percent of all energy) put it at the top of the national Manufacturing Vulnerability Index. Its MVI rating was 28 percent higher than runner-up Ohio and more than three-and-a-half times that of the median rating.

Five of the 10 most vulnerable congressional districts are located in Indiana as well. The 3rd District (represented by Mark Souder-R), topped the national rankings, followed closely by the 2nd District (Joe Donnelly-D). Indiana’s 6th (Mike Pence-R) and 9th (Baron Hill-D) districts finished in the fifth and sixth spots, respectively, and the 8th District (Brad Elsworth-10) ranked tenth.

“The best that can be said of cap-and-trade regimes is that they spread the pain in a bi-partisan fashion,” said Heritage energy economist David Kreutzer. “But they don’t spread it evenly. Indiana will pay a much higher price, in terms of lost jobs and higher energy costs, than the rest of the country if Congress adopts this approach to environmental improvement.”

Heritage expects to complete a more detailed economic analysis of the Waxman-Markey bill within a week. And Kreutzer predicts the job loss numbers “won’t be pretty.”

A Heritage analysis of last year’s Lieberman-Warner cap-and-trade bill estimated it would lead to nearly 3 million manufacturing jobs lost by the year 2029. And, Kreutzer noted, that bill was far less stringent than Waxman-Markey.

“The CO2 reductions envisioned in Lieberman-Warner would have destroyed more than half the jobs in some manufacturing sub-sectors like machinery manufacturing and those that make plastic and rubber products,” Kreutzer noted. “Under this year’s bill, things would only get worse.”

The Heritage Foundation is a non-partisan think tank based in Washington, DC.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Even in an economic downturn, college seniors with the right preparation and perseverance can find jobs, a Purdue careers executive and some students say.

Timothy Luzader, director of Purdue University’s Center for Career Opportunities, says employers will continue to look at students from schools where they have built good relationships. “Purdue has a great reputation among employers,” he says. “They respect the rigor of the curriculum.”

They also keep coming back because of the students’ work ethic, he says. “It seems almost trite to say, but it’s what we hear from employers. Companies know that the Purdue students they hire are going to work hard.”

Three Purdue seniors who will receive bachelor’s degrees in May and begin work in their chosen fields this summer agree that their on-campus experiences were key to landing their jobs.

“Employers see a degree from Purdue as a real asset,” says Amy Burrell of West Lafayette. In the Krannert School of Management, she has majored in management with minors in economics, and organizational behavior and human resources. She will go to work at Eli Lilly and Co. in Indianapolis doing a human resources rotational program.

“I felt confident and well equipped while interviewing because of all the preparations that Krannert and Purdue give their students,” she says.

Kristin Burkenpas, a food science major in the College of Agriculture from Somerset, Ky., says not only was she prepared with the knowledge needed to work in her field, but she also had the tools to convey that knowledge during job interviews.

Burkenpas, who will work in the beverage lab at Sensient Technologies in Indianapolis as an applications technologist, says networking opportunities through guest lecturers in her Purdue classes also were invaluable. “I took an elective in the fall of 2008. The class instructor for the course will be one of my co-workers come June.”

Mike Mierzwa, a nuclear engineering major in the College of Engineering, says co-op experience during college and Purdue’s reputation as a premier engineering school helped him succeed in his job search. Mierzwa, of Morris Plains, N.J., will work for Westinghouse in Pittsburgh as a reactor core design engineer.

“Though my studies at Purdue, I’ve acquired the mindset of a problem-solving engineer and valuable communication skills,” he says.

All three say they started early – before their senior year – laying the groundwork to find a job after graduation. And all of them stepped up the effort last fall.

Mierzwa, who also served as chairman for the national Rube Goldberg Machine Contest, took a scientific approach to his job search. He developed a list of 20 companies and ranked them in order of his desire to work for them. Last fall, he actively pursued the top 15 or so. In the second half of the semester, he traveled regularly for interviews. In the end, he had offers from four companies, including his top two, one of which was Westinghouse.

Burkenpas says she attended job fairs and worked with the Department of Food Science’s placement coordinator to line up interviews.

“However, the job with Sensient came through industry contacts that I had networked throughout my college career, ” she says.

Burrell says she started making connections her junior year and last fall began aggressively pursuing any job lead she found.

“To begin with, I applied for positions that were posted on the Center for Career Opportunities Web site and followed through with contacts I made through Krannert’s Emloyers Forum,” she says.

At the career center, Luzader says there is no doubt that employers are making fewer recruitment visits because of layoffs and hiring freezes.

“But the good news for Purdue students is that companies are still going to make recruiting visits to their key schools. For many large, multinational companies, Purdue is a key school. They are going to be here recruiting and conducting interviews. They know if they disappear from campus, they lose their brand recognition as an employer and fall behind their competition.”

Luzader says that among universities with comprehensive career centers, Purdue consistently ranks in the top five for volume of recruitment. The center helps students explore career options and develop effective job search skills. It hosts companies recruiting on campus and sets up activities such as job fairs to connect students with employers.

Luzader says one trend he is seeing for the first time in his 30 years in the field is companies rescinding job offers in high numbers.

“We’ve seen about 100 students who have had offers rescinded or starting dates delayed,” he says. “It is affecting students’ full-time jobs and internships.”

Recognizing that some soon-to-be graduates are struggling to find jobs, the career center will hold its first ever “No Fear Job Search Day – Working Off-line” for seniors on May 12 after finals.

While they won’t actually be recruiting, company representatives will be on campus to help students hone their job-search skills through resume critiques, job search advice and networking. A “mocktail” party will help them learn how to work a room. They also will pick up interviewing techniques during speed interviewing, based on the speed dating model.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — A net 9 percent of chief information officers (CIOs) in the Indianapolis area expect to hire information technology (IT) professionals in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the most recent Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report. Twelve percent of executives surveyed plan to add staff during the quarter and 3 percent anticipate reductions in personnel. The net 9 percent increase is down one point from the area’s third-quarter 2008 forecast but one point above the national average.

The local results reflect a two-quarter rolling average based on interviews with 200 CIOs from a stratified random sample of companies in the Indianapolis area with 100 or more employees; 1,400 executives were queried for the national data. (To view the national results, visit http://www.rht.com/PressRoom.) The studies were conducted by an independent research firm and developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of IT professionals on a project and full-time basis. Robert Half Technology has been tracking IT hiring activity in the United States since 1995.

“IT hiring projections for the fourth quarter indicate greater activity in the Indianapolis area compared to the national forecast,” said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. “Organizations are directing recruitment efforts toward professionals who can provide essential services — such as help desk and networking — and support the launch of Web 2.0 based functionality.”

About the IT Hiring Index
First published in 1995, the Robert Half Technology IT Hiring Index and Skills Report was conducted by an independent research firm and is based on more than 1,400 telephone interviews with CIOs from a random sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. For the study to be statistically representative and ensure that companies from all segments were represented, the sample was stratified by geographic region, industry and employee size. The results were then weighted to reflect the proper proportions of employee size within each region.