The Missouri Department of Economic Development wants to set the table for business growth in the state.

"We want to set the table and invite businesses to come and eat," said George Rafael, senior economist for the Department of Economic Development in Jefferson City.

"We don't want to spoonfeed them or put an IV in their arm," he said at a meeting Thursday with more than 20 city, county and economic development officials from Southeast Missouri.

The meeting was held at Southeast Missouri State University's business school.

Rafael and other officials of the Economic Development Department said their agency plans to develop a comprehensive strategy that focuses on the growth industries of the future.

It is part of the state's "Target Missouri: Creating a Foundation for the 21st Century Economy" plan.

State economic development officials want to work with businesses leaders to develop a separate game plan for economic growth in each of the eight regions of the state.

Those plans should be in place by next June, officials said.

Quentin Wilson, the department's deputy director, said his agency wants to implement programs that focus on results.

"We think government can work, government can be run like a business," he said.

Rafael said the department intends to reallocate existing funds where possible to provide the job training or other services needed to help attract and expand businesses.

Among other things, the department plans to focus on attracting companies to the state that can supply the raw materials and products needed by already existing businesses.

"We want Missouri companies buying Missouri products," he said.

The agency isn't looking to set up costly new, bureaucratic programs, Rafael said.

Wilson said that the state Legislature, at the department's request, appropriated a lump sum of money and left it up to the agency to decide in what areas the money should be spent.

That way, the department can more easily reallocate funds to meet economic-development needs, Wilson said.

The lump-sum appropriation could serve as a budgeting blueprint for other state agencies in the future, Wilson said.

Rafael said the state's success and that of its citizens is tied to economic growth.

In today's era of limited state budgets, the department believes that private-public partnerships offer the best hope for economic development projects.

Wilson said the department also recognizes there are different needs in the various regions of the state.

"There is no such thing as a Missouri state economy. It is a state of at least eight regional economies," he said.

Wilson said his agency wants to respond to the needs of business without getting in the way. "We are not going to micro-manage that from Jefferson City anymore," he said.

The department helped create 10,458 new jobs in fiscal 1996. It hopes to assist in the creation of more than 11,500 jobs this fiscal year and more than 15,000 by fiscal 2000.

The department currently spends more than $3,300 to create a single new job.

By the year 2000, the agency hopes to lower that cost to just over $2,100.

Rep. Phil Tate, D-Gallatin, is leaving the Legislature to take a position with the Economic Development Department.

Tate said the agency intends to serve the needs of its customers, the business community, rather than dictate to businesses.

"The thing that scares a lot of people in government is we are going to measure results," Tate said.

He insisted it isn't just another restructuring of government.

While Missouri's economy is doing well overall, there are areas of the state with high unemployment, officials said.

There also are some economic concerns on the horizon, Rafael said.

The state is a big manufacturer of motor vehicles. But there are expected to be 46 percent fewer jobs in that industry by 2005.

Over the same period, the number of jobs in the grain-mill industry are expected to drop by 13 percent and employment in the telephone communications industry by 25 percent.

At the same time, the output is expected to climb in all those industries. Companies will produce more with less people, Rafael said.

The result is that some workers will have to find new jobs.

But Rafael said that in many cases where downsizing has occurred, the displaced workers end up starting their own businesses. The economy benefits as a result and so do the workers, he said.