About Human Capital

No factor matters more to businesses than the quality and availability of labor. Workers represent the largest single cost of doing business, but, more importantly, they are the source of most innovation and process improvements that distinguish successful firms from those that are not successful. Because produced goods have a high degree of value dependent on each individual worker in a production line or transportation leg or hub, a uniformly high quality of workers is required. These workers must possess the ability to understand increasingly complex production processes that today are mostly managed by computers with specialized software. The factories, rail yards, distribution facilities, and machine shops of today are complex, highly technical, and dependent on workers who can work successfully in this environment. Human capital (especially quality of educational background) is the most important factor in firm location decisions.

Our human capital measurements include rankings of educational attainment at the high school and collegiate level, the first-year retention rate of adults in community and technical colleges, the number of associates degrees awarded annually on a per capita basis, and the share of adults enrolled in adult basic education.

Sources: National Center for Educational Statistics and U.S. Department of the Census.

2020 Human Capital

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Map

Table

State	Grade
Alabama	F
Alaska	C
Arizona	D-
Arkansas	D
California	C-
Colorado	B
Connecticut	B
Delaware	C
Florida	B
Georgia	D
Hawaii	C
Idaho	C
Illinois	B-
Indiana	C
Iowa	B+
Kansas	C
Kentucky	D+
Louisiana	F
Maine	B
Maryland	C
Massachusetts	B-
Michigan	D
Minnesota	A
Mississippi	D-
Missouri	C
Montana	C+
Nebraska	B+
Nevada	C-
New Hampshire	A
New Jersey	C
New Mexico	F
New York	C-
North Carolina	C
North Dakota	A
Ohio	C-
Oklahoma	D
Oregon	D+
Pennsylvania	C
Rhode Island	C-
South Carolina	F
South Dakota	B
Tennessee	D
Texas	D
Utah	B
Vermont	C
Virginia	C+
Washington	A
West Virginia	F
Wisconsin	A
Wyoming	B-

Center for Business and Economic Research - Ball State University

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2020 Human Capital