WESSON — The executive director of the Mississippi DevelopmentAuthority said the state needs to reevaluate its future goals onthe service sector.

Leland R. Speed made his comments Thursday during a speech atCopiah-Lincoln Community College’s 13th Annual Career Fair andBusiness and Industry Appreciation Luncheon.

“We have to recognize that the jobs are going to come in theservice sector,” Speed told the nearly 500 business and industryleaders, elected officials and community development directors.”That is where the jobs are going to be.”

Manufacturing has been the state’s strength in the past, hesaid, but that has been declining for the past two decades.Technology has replaced many manufacturing jobs by allowing fewerpeople to produce more products.

In contrast, the service sector has been growing rapidly, andstates and communities are striving to meet those demands. Forexample, he said, 15 percent of the gross national product is goinginto health care. Projections are that the growth will continue,reaching 25 percent in the few decades, he said.

To compete in that market, Speed said, officials first have toknow who their customers are.

“I don’t think we’ve ever really had a clear picture of who thatwas,” he said.

Rural areas perhaps have the advantage in the service sector, hesaid, but many don’t realize it. Smaller towns have a lot ofperipheral advantages to companies looking for a place tolocate.

“Quality of life is the battlefield,” Speed said. “People todaycan live anywhere. They can move where they want to go and then geta job. Always before, they had to follow and move to where the jobswere.”

Rural areas have that quality of life, he said, and shouldpromote it. Appearance is also important.

“Why should anyone stay when they see a shack or a junkpile onthe way into town? They can go where there are no shacks,” he said.”You’re in friendly competition with other communities whether youknow it or not, make no mistake about it.”

Speed, whose mother was born in Wesson and who has extensivefamily in the Lawrence County area, said he at first declined whenGov. Haley Barbour offered him the position as director of the MDA,but changed his mind overnight.

“I don’t think I have a job. I think I have an opportunity,” hesaid. “Mississippi, right now, is closer to having our stars linedup than we’ll probably ever be again. We have more people withclout in Washington, D.C., than we’re ever going to haveagain.”

In addition, Speed said, the state has a governor with strongerbusiness ties than perhaps it’s ever had — a governor who isfamiliar with and friends with many major industry chief executiveofficers.

He cited the new Textron plant in Greenville as an example. Itwas announced only five days after Barbour was inaugurated.

“With only five days in office, I’m sure asking how much hecould have had to do with it. The answer is everything,” Speedsaid.

According to Speed, Barbour learned Textron was closing threeplants across the U.S. and moving them to Mexico. Barbour calledthe CEO and asked, “Why not move them to Mississippi?” Thenegotiations went quickly after that.

“He hasn’t grandstanded about it. He hasn’t made a big dealabout it, but that’s how it happened,” Speed said.

The location of the Textron plant and the Nissan plant haveshown the world that Mississippi can meet their demands, Speedsaid.

“It appears (the Nissan plant) is the world’s largest automobileplant ever built from a green field, from scratch,” Speed said. “Itwas built without a hitch, and ahead of schedule. This tellsindustries we can take on anything you got and we can do itright.”

The quality of the plants also dispels the image thatMississippi is not technologically capable enough to supply aqualified workforce to high tech industries. That myth will takeanother hit soon, he said.

Speed promised that another major announcement was coming onApril 13, and the opening of this plant would make “the world’sfirst something. It’s very high tech. It doesn’t get any more hightech than this, but for now I’m going to make you guess what itis.”

The MDA director concluded his comments by saying the governmentcan help with community development, but it is ultimately thecommunity itself that determines the success or failure of aventure.

“Government can be a nice implementer, but the energy comes fromyou,” he said.

The luncheon, sponsored by the Georgia-Pacific Monticello Mill,was the largest in the school’s history, according to Dr. Billy W.Stewart, dean of the Division of Community Services.

“We are overwhelmed,” he said. “We are very pleased with theturn out.”

The morning career fair drew more than 75 booths.

“That’s a record,” Stewart said. “It’s the most we’ve ever hadand it just keeps getting bigger.”