PICKERING/Technology critical to Mississippi’s future

Don't count capitalism out just yet.

The U.S. economy is flourishing. More Americans are working than ever before, and for the first time on record, there are more job openings than unemployed Americans.

In 2019, 2.1 million new jobs were created in America. Unemployment is at record lows. Wages are growing, and the stock market has repeatedly set record highs.

All of this is fueling a new sense of optimism among American workers and companies across the country.

One of the main drivers of our economy today and into the future is the technology sector. Led by Google/Alphabet, the tech and ecommerce sector invested an estimated $72.6 billionin capital expenditures in the U.S. in 2018, the most by any sector by nearly $20 billion, according to a 2019 PPI report

The digital economy plays an outsized role in driving economic growth. According to federal data, in 2017, the digital economy accounted for 6.9% of the economy, 25 percent of all growth in GDP, and supported 5.1 million jobs.

What does that mean for Mississippi and other more rural states?

We have to put ourselves in position to capitalize on this opportunity. Education and workforce development are big drivers. Local investment is critical. Investors must take risks and workers need to stay hungry to learn.

Recently, Google announced it will locate its first domestic operations center in northwest Mississippi.

This will bring 350 new jobs to Mississippi by late 2020 and workers will "provide customer service to Google users by assisting with tasks ranging from answering calls to product troubleshooting, ad campaign set-up and more" according to a Google news release.

Senator Roger Wicker deserves a lot of credit for America's leading tech companies such as Google coming to Mississippi, and we are all excited to welcome what Senator Wicker described as "one of the most innovative companies in world."

Here are a few things Mississippians should know about Google:

Google's parent company was the number one investor in the U.S. economy in 2019.

In the last three years, Google has made direct contributions of over $150 billion into the U.S. economy.

In 2019, Google announced $13 billion in new investment across 14 states.

Google employs more than 64,000 full-time workers in the U.S.

But like most tech leaders, Google's most important contributions are to the 1.3 million U.S. businesses, website publishers, and nonprofits it connects with web users around the world. In fact, the company's online tools generated $335 billion in economic activity in 2018, an 18 percent increase from 2017. And, in 2018, more than 35 percent of clicks for American businesses via Google came from places outside the U.S.

These are the kinds of innovations that can drive job growth in Mississippi deep into the 21st century, establishing our community as a conduit for consumers, small businesses and non-profits and unleashing a wave of American innovation that will continue to fuel our future growth.

It's critical for Mississippi to stake its claim on this opportunity by investing in the future and preserving pro-growth policies, and I applaud Governor Reeves for working closely with Senators Wicker and Hyde-Smith at the federal level to help Mississippians fulfill their dreams.

Chip Pickering is the CEO of INCOMPAS and a former member of Congress Representing the Third District of Mississippi.