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South Dakota to Lose Young Workers: Native Youth Able to Fill Gap?

Then again, maybe spending nine million dollars on Pe 'Sla won't hinder economic development for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Maybe our Lakota neighbors don't have to save up their money to create jobs on the rez. Maybe they can finally enjoy sustainable economic development by filling all the South Dakota jobs that our aging demographics will leave empty in the coming decades. Bob Mercer summarizes a talk by School of Mines professor and demographer Sidney Goss:

His message can be summarized in a few sentences:

  • South Dakota will lose 15 percent of its age 18-24 population by 2030 while the nation's young people in that bracket grow by 20 percent.
  • An estimated 30,000 people will disappear from the under-50 workforce by 2030.
  • The future of South Dakota's workforce is American Indian youth, whose numbers are growing [Bob Mercer, "South Dakota Faces Looming Gap in Workforce," Aberdeen American News, September 9, 2012].

One accountant may be rating South Dakota as one of the best places in the country for early twenty-somethings, but Dr. Goss doesn't foresee that rating bringing a flock of young people here to fix our cars and provide Grandma's home health care services. Dr. Goss doesn't mention Dr. David Newquist's thesis that our small-town culture repels more young people than it draws.

But whatever forces are at work, South Dakota is going to have fewer younger people available to work. Every job that white folks can't fill is a job Native folks could take and turn into support for tribal economic development. Could young Native Americans fill that gap as an in-state migrant workforce, commuting along I-90 and Highway 12 to take more jobs in Rapid, Mitchell, and Aberdeen? Or will they focus on creating jobs on the reservations, leaving aging white towns to dwindle as workers and services become more scarce?