handful of states with no large cities. just a lot of medium-size places and plenty of small towns. and, yet, kansans have made their mark in the ages, in good times and bad. one of the industries that kansas is known all around the world for is airplane manufacturing. particularly corporate jets and smaller privately-owned planes. some of the biggest names in that business are right here in wichita, and they ve been through a very tough time. they ve lost a lot of business, and a lot of jobs. but they ve also used this as a time to regroup and prepare themselves to build up again. a few years back, cessna, one of the most renowned names in aviation, was selling hundreds of multi million dollar airplanes annually. then the recession. scandals over the misuse of corporate jets and the company lost half of its orders and half of its jobs.
is very, very important to the local economy. but there is a very rapidly growing big business here, too, that is making a lot of waves all around the world in tech. people are paying attention to this company, not only because it s growing so fast, but because it has found such an innovative way to tap into an underutilized resource. the morning commute for julie barrett is only as far as the kitchen where she grabs coffee, putts out the cat and starts reading what other people write on the internet. i feel i have the best of both worlds, that i contribute to the family income, and then i also get to participate in my children s life. reporter: it s real work with real pay for dozens of stay-at-home moms who have found new income, purpose, and satisfaction in a company called bazaar voice. i m a single mom with four kids. i wanted to be home. i needed something that would allow me to contribute to my
reporter: at places like dreamland barbecue, it s hard to imagine times are ever hard. indeed, this is part of an aggressive building up program down by the river in alabama s capital city. an effort to bring back the historic downtown and a lot of jobs, too. and this, too, is getting financial fuel from deals with other foreign firms. specifically one that set up shop a few years ago and has been onshoring jobs ever since. just south of montgomery at the gleaming new hyundai plant, almost every minute another new car rolls off the line. and just about as often, you can find someone like yolanda williams singing the company s praises. it is. i love it. i enjoy what i do every day. reporter: did you ever have any idea you would be making a living from the car industry in southern alabama? no, i never dreamed it. it s changed a lot of people s lives down here. reporter: winning this massive economic prize over
that needs repair. and throughout the chain of production, they say they are looking for new ideas, new savings, new efficiencies. in many ways it sounds like you completely rebuilt your production line. we did. we cleared out this entire part of the building, and said, let s go re-examine how we build airplanes and how we can become better at it. and not only does it affect the cost of quality which our customers are going to view positively, but it s also to help our employees. reporter: all of that has allowed the company to maintain aggressive research and development, and to roll out its latest model, despite the hard times. i mean, you really believe that if you don t keep developing and bringing new products on, you re never going to recover. you re not. innovate or die. you can t just hunker down and hide during this period of time. you have to continue to invest. reporter: because that, he believes, is what protects jobs on the ground and puts planes
that started seven years ago. that s when the state began offering big rebates to filmmakers who would come and hire local workers buy local products and use local facilities like the sprawling new sound stages just outside of albuquerque. in addition, the state can help cover salaries for local folks being trained for film jobs. as a result, the number of skilled film workers here has gone from 100 to 3,000. and it s very high-paying jobs, great benefits. construction has really slowed down, this has really been a good, good way to fill that economic void for jobs. this is not an utterly new idea. thomas edison s picture company made his first film here and cowboy films rode all over the new mexico range. but what is happening now is much bigger than what was happening back then, even bigger