Ex-Residents Are Gone, But They're Not Forgotten

By CONOR DOUGHERTY
The Wall Stree Journal
December 26, 2007; Page B1

South Dakota isn't for everyone. So when the state crafted a program to attract new workers, it targeted people already familiar with its freezing winters and open spaces: the thousands of South Dakotans who leave every year.

The result is "Dakota Roots," a year-old job-placement service that matches expatriate South Dakotans with companies that need workers.

Dakota Roots is South Dakota's effort to attract former residents.

Across the country, in an effort to repopulate declining work forces, several states are going after former residents. Last fall, North Dakota launched a program called "Experience ND" with an event in St. Paul, Minn. Vermont has "PursueVT." Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack organized and attended receptions around the country for Iowa college grads who moved away.

The reach of these programs is limited. But states and companies that participate say they are worth the modest investment, and are often cheaper than hiring a headhunter. States figure it is a lot easier to persuade former residents to come home than it is to get strangers to move to a place they have never been to. Iowa officials say efforts to lure former residents have brought about 2,200 of them back to the state.

States are always hungry for new people, but the idea of trying to lure ex-residents is fairly new. Most economic-development efforts focus on attracting new employers, often with a combination of tax breaks, cheap real estate and cash. Yet relocation consultants say that for companies thinking about moving to a state, one of the biggest concerns is having an adequate, well-trained work force.

"Getting people to move back to an area will become a very important economic-development tool," says Dennis J. Donovan, a principal at Wadley-Donovan-Gutshaw Consulting, a corporate-location consultant in Bridgewater, N.J.

Many of these programs use college alumni lists to reach out to former residents. The Internet and social-networking sites like Facebook have made tracking down grads easier. In addition, expatriates tend not to stray far from their states of origin and are inclined to cluster together.

People who leave the Great Plains states often go to Minneapolis.

The Canadian province of Saskatchewan, which also has a "come home" program, has found that many of its college grads flee to neighboring Alberta.

Vermont, as part of its new PursueVT initiative, hired a research firm to find where its grads went and why they went there. The research showed a large number live in the Boston area, and that many left for work reasons, rather than because they wanted an urban environment.
In September, the state's department of economic development hosted an event that paired 22 technology companies with about 80 graduates of Vermont colleges who had left the state (more than 1,000 invitations were sent out).

The gathering, at a popular bar near Boston's waterfront, featured a jazz band and free hors d'oeuvres like seared tuna, chicken satay and a table of Vermont cheeses. Several attendees have expressed interest in working in Vermont, and the state says it plans to do similar events every three months. "We're not reaching out to the unidentified cold prospect," says Mike Quinn, Vermont's economic development commissioner.

PursueVT has hosted events in nearby Boston to try to get former residents to return to Vermont.

The cost of these programs isn't large, especially when compared with the millions in tax breaks and grants that are given to attract companies. Also, though the programs are aimed at former residents, they are open to anyone looking for a job in the state. Vermont's department of economic development says the recent event in Boston cost about $33,000, including consulting and marketing costs. The budget for the year is around $100,000.

The states pursuing ex-residents tend to share both extremely cold winters and a shortage of workers. South Dakota, which has a 2.8% unemployment rate, one of the lowest in the nation, has a growing service sector. New job opportunities include back-office operations at financial-service firms.

The challenge for South Dakota is to find enough people to keep the state growing; its 0.91% population growth was 24th in the nation last year. The state has lagged behind the nation in population growth every year since 1962.

Since October 2006, the Dakota Roots program has resulted in 290 new South Dakotans, and officials say about 1,100 people are actively using Dakota Roots to look for jobs in the state.

Jackie Henriksen, 30 years old, attended high school and college in South Dakota, before moving eight years ago to the Dallas area to take a job as a software engineer. After having a child last year, Mrs. Henriksen says she and her husband started exploring a move back to South Dakota.

She registered with Dakota Roots late last year, and intensified her search after she was laid off in April. "We lived in Texas but we never felt like we could call it home," she says. Mrs. Henriksen moved back to South Dakota in July, and began work at a new engineering job in August.

Besides going after former residents, states are looking for ways to keep the people they have. In July, Maine's governor signed a law that will provide college-loan assistance to Maine-educated grads who stay in the state to live and work.

Write to Conor Dougherty at conor.dougherty@wsj.com