AI and automation in the heartland: What it means for talent (VB Live)

There are two Americas. The first, the rich America of the coasts, is where the majority of venture capital has traditionally been funneled. They’re the areas with high-paying tech jobs at the most innovative companies, at the center of an economic boom that has seen coastal cities growing out past their suburbs and pricing out employees who can’t afford to buy, let alone rent. And despite the abundant wealth, new companies are struggling to gain a foothold, and established companies are struggling to maintain profit as cost of living and cost of business and overhead — continues to rise.
Then you have the America between the coasts, the states often derided as the “flyover states,” that until recently harbored a generally unrealized, untapped pool of workers with tremendous potential. But that potential is now being unlocked.
Look at Reno: In 2009, the city had been left for dead, with an unemployment rate soaring to 14 percent and outrageous foreclosure rates. And then the community mobilized to foster economic development, courting jobs and opportunity from companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Tesla as well as 170 others, plus countless startups. Today Reno’s unemployment has plummeted to just 4 percent, and wage growth has gone up to 20 – 50 percent, and both the community and those companies are thriving.
As companies in high-growth areas along the coast try to find ways to continue to overcome the meteoric costs that eat into a bottom line and an increasingly difficult-to-tap talent pool, Reno’s success story, and countless others across the country, prove increasingly to be the solution.
High-growth tech companies can create jobs, and help communities support the infrastructure required to foster a high-value talent pool. And the effect is cumulative: The presence of tentpole corporations creates a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the area, improving the drawing power of a thriving job market that you can — and should — tap into.
To learn how to take advantage of the quickly growing talent resources across the country, leverage AI and automation to maximize your HR efforts across the country, reduce overhead, and see your company’s growth and bottom line boom, don’t miss this VB Live event.
Source: VentureBeat