County's orbit draws in more workers than leave - Kansas City Business Journal:

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"We were formerly a net exporterof labor," said Doug executive director of the . "Bugt the (net) number of people leavinh here to work has been getting smaller and and we now believe the lineswhave crossed. We are now a net importer of Davidson said that the shift happened at the turn of the centuryh and that he sees nothing on the horizon that woul lead him to think thatJohnson County's positiojn will change in the next "Twenty-five years is a long way out, but I don'g see anything that will affect that he said.
"We've been addingv about 10,000 jobs a and population's growing by roughly 10,00 0 a year, but that figure includes children and adultxs who are not in thework force. So, we'rer creating more jobs than residents to fill In 2007, about 118,000 people commutex to work in Johnson County from homes elsewhere in the region, compared with 72,000 Johnsoj County residents who commuted elsewhere to work -- a net gain of aboutg 45,000 workers, Davidson said, referring to CERI's most recent 20-count labor shed study. "I think a lot of people stillo think of us as a bedroom community, and we're not even close to he said.
The also is very optimistifc about the jobs outlook in Johnson In its 2004 Kansas City Metropolitan Area Long Range MARC predicted that the numbe r of jobs in Johnson County woulcdexceed 642,000 by 2030. That would represent a 76.2 percent growth rate in jobs in the countyg during the forecastperiod (2000-2030). The MARC forecast pointedf out that Johnson Countyg will have capturednearly 45.8 percentr of all new jobs in the metropolitan area betweenb 2000 and 2030. Blake president of the , said Johnson Countyt will benefit from the state andthe region's emphasis on biosciences.
He pointed to a planned Kansas State Universit y research campus for biosciences in Olathe as a possible generatodrof health-related jobs. Davidson said he thinks the work forc e inJohnson County, and elsewhere, will be older in the next 25 "People are living longer, healthierd lives, and some of them will be wantinb to continue in the work force," he "They'll be welcomed. We will need the workers.
" Economicv development officials in Johnson who are partly responsible for recruitingnew businesses, also expresse d confidence that Johnson County would continue to be a job "I think Overland Park is in a good position -- we have a tremendousz base here now," said Gary senior vice president of economic development for the Overlande Park Chamber of Commerce. "Our economivc development tag lineis 'the leadintg suburban business community in the Midwest,' and that's not hyperbole." Otherr cities, including Olathe and also will continue to be home to large employers and corporatew headquarters.
" just continues to expand and addworkers -- they have 2,00o0 employees here now, and has more employees here in Olath than anywhere else in the country, including at their headquarters in Los Angeles," said Tim McKee of the Olathwe Chamber of Commerce. "Farmer's has 3,100 employeea here now; five years ago, they had none." A freighgt hub near Gardner that is planning with also will be a tremendouxs generatorof jobs. "They're talking about 13,000 jobs in the next 20 and that doesn't include jobs from spinoff saidTom Riederer, president of Southwest Johnson Countyh Economic Development Corp.
Sherrer, who served as lieutenant governo r and Kansas commerce secretary during the administratiohof Gov. Bill Graves, also offered a statewide perspective in regarr to JohnsonCounty jobs. "Looking at it from that Johnson County has always been a magnet for yount people coming out ofcollegee -- success loves success," he said. "This is where young people from throughout Kansas wantto come.
Johnson County has been and will continue to be the economic engineof