LI an economic role model?

Could the battered Long Island economy be a role model for struggling communities?
 

In some respects it could be, according to Gary Huth, the New York State Labor Department’s principal economist for the Island.
 

Long Island, once heavily dependent on the defense industry, diversified after that sector’s downsizing in the 1990s. But the technology base left behind allowed the Island to diversify and create high-tech jobs across many sectors.

Now as other areas like Pittsburgh, Pa., suffering through a manufacturing downturn, look to diversify, Long Island’s economic makeover could be a source of inspiration.
 

“It’s become a paradigm for what many others want to look like,” Huth told a  Wednesday gathering of the local chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals at the Huntington Hilton in Melville.
 

“Long Island actually survived or grew more strongly than anybody expected, and it appears to have grown based significantly on those existing skill levels and technology assets,” Huth added in an interview after the meeting.
 

Now the Island will have to leverage its high-tech base again to stimulate job growth in its worse employment market since the 1990s.
“It’s a major driver of where we are and where we’re going,” Huth said.
 

Citing data from Gartner Inc., a Connecticut information-technology research and advisory firm, Huth noted 10 technology skills most in demand today.
 

They include cloud computing, a way to boost computer capacity without investing in expensive infrastructure; advanced analytics, which deals with the outcome of processes, and security-activity monitoring.
 

Huth said local companies need to do a better job of publicizing the kind of skills they need, a concept he calls human-capital transparency.
“Job seekers can see .... what’s out there in terms of what the businesses need,” he said.