Pennsylvania Secretary of Community and Economic Development C. Alan Walker traveled Wednesday to Pottsville to tell people the state's best economic days are yet to come.
"Looking forward, Pennsylvania is going to do very well," Walker told about 35 people at the Schuylkill Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Schuylkill YMCA in Pottsville. "During this recession, our unemployment number was generally lower than the rest of the country."
Walker, 69, of Clearfield, has served as DCED secretary since being appointed by Gov. Tom Corbett in 2011. A native of Bigler, Clearfield County, he served as president and CEO of Bradford Energy Co. Inc. before joining Corbett's cabinet.
In his speech, Walker emphasized the positive effects of the natural gas industry on the state's economy, saying it has put Pennsylvania second behind Texas in the export of natural gas.
"It's been an incredible development," he said of the business that has directly created 28,155 new jobs and indirectly spawned 200,000 more jobs in the state. Williamsport, for example, has become a boomtown for companies involved in producing natural gas by the process of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.
Benefits have not been limited to the people directly involved in the natural gas industry, according to Walker.
"Our energy costs are going down," including electric rates, he said. "It's going to make Pennsylvania extremely competitive."
That growth also will involve building cracker plants, which will break down oils in natural gas to produce plastic pellets that can be used to manufacture plastic products, he said. One such plant already is planned for Beaver County, according to Walker.
"We want to get the value of the gas here," he said.
Walker said that competitiveness has sparked the beginning of what he termed reshoring, the return of jobs from overseas to Pennsylvania, and reindustrialization, the return of industries to areas that previously had plants.
"I see really good days for Pennsylvania," he said.
Distribution centers are an example of the return of businesses to the state, he said. Walker pointed to Schuylkill County's Highridge Business Park, which contains regional distribution centers for such corporations as Lowes, Wal-Mart and Wegmans, as an example of such growth.
"We're seeing this all across the state," Walker said.
He also said the Corbett administration has helped the state economically.
"There's been a lot of fiscal discipline in the last three years," Walker said, noting that Corbett got rid of a $4.5 billion deficit when he took office and has balanced all his budgets without raising taxes. "We're getting much more efficient."
In addition, he praised the new $2.3 billion transportation funding bill, which will increase spending for highways, bridges and mass-transit systems, saying it also will create $60,000 new jobs.
"It's going to prepare our infrastructure for the 21st century," Walker said.
Communities also need to emphasize high-tech training and vocational education to prepare people to be part of the work force in the 21st century, he said.
He said Schuylkill County has provided a good example of helping itself by increasing its adaptability for change.
"The communities that don't do anything are going to be totally bypassed," Walker said. "A vision with a task can change the world."