Analyzing and Profiling the Local Economy Flashcards
to develop an effective economic development plan, economic development practitioners must ____
understand the driving forces in the economy, the economic base industries, development capacity, and external trends and events that affect the community’s development
Assessment of the local economy identifies
- challenges the economy is facing or is likely to face
- existing and potential competitive advantages and how the advantages compare to other communities
- obstacles to attaining economic development goals and objectives
- regional, national, and international environments in which your local economy exisits, their impacts on the local economy, and what factors are likely to change over time
- local resources for implementation of the economic development plan
- socio-economic make-up of the community and migration trends
- skill level of the workforce
- opinions and perceptions of your community that may help or hinder results
info and analysis generated from studying the local economy can be used to
- ID local assets and liabilities that will affect economic development
- project or forecast local economic development trends
- monitor economic performance over time
Local economic studies should address
- employment and unemployment broken out by activity and location, fiscal well-being measured by tax rates and taxing capacity
- current economic activity including number of firms, their industry type, size, age, location, wage levels and new investment
- future trends and developments like legislation, changes in economic structure, and new business starts
- size of labor pool, wages rates, market size, area income, market growth rates, land and building availability, and community amenities like quality of life
- development capacity including local public and private resources and institutions that can administer specific economic development projects and programs
Avoid economic study pitfalls by
- limiting info gathering to an identified area of analysis
- keep info gathering simple - collect data that has an immediate use, will help you understand the local economy and lead to decision making
- gather and analyze info over time
- make info relevant and understandable to decision makers
How do you define the region of analysis or economic area for study?
think about dominant economic influence = do commuters from outside the political jurisdiction contribute significantly to workforce?
Three resources commonly used to gather data for economic studies
Census, BLS, or Bureau of Economic Analysis
**these sources typically aggregate information by “place” - city, county, MSA, etc.
to gather a full understanding of the economic environment you should look at _______
local and regional economic setting
areas of study for full understanding of local and regional economic setting include
- region-wide analysis of broader economic trends like business concentration, population, employment, and unemployment
- city-wide factors like income, business starts, population, employment/unemployment
- Sub-city areas like CBD and neighborhoods
- sector analysis like manufacturing sector, service sector, and labor force
communities under ____ can have problems using regular data sources because they aggregate info into political jurisdictions like states, counties, and large cities
50,000; surveys and focus groups are alternatives
audits on institutional capacity should____
identify and assess potential implementation resources, their competencies, and abilities to take on additional tasks, and their strengths and weaknesses
institutional capacity audits should look at
- labor: availability, cost, and skills
- financial resources: types, availability, reliability
- existing programs and services: service techniques and processes, capacity, and reputation/credibility
- formal partnerships: MOAs and other binding agreements
- Infrastructure
economic condition describes
the current level of economic activity in a community
to determine the profile of an economy
employment unemployment number of firms by industry and size wages area income output by industry new business starts retail sales new housing sales average price of homes sold
POPULATION characteristics and trends provide___
insights into the potential workforce pool, nature of the local market and needs for local goods and services like schools
use ____, _____, and _____ to determine the characteristics of the population
size and growth
distribution by age, sex, race income, and education levels
characteristics by geographical sub-areas
LABOR FORCE characteristics detail ________ of the community and provide insight regarding
occupational mix; skill base of the local workforce
OCCUPATIONAL MIX is based on:
percentage of workforce in high-skilled jobs vs. percent of workforce in low-skilled jobs
find out about local labor force by looking at
- participation rates
- occupations
- wage rates
- skill level
- transferable skills
- educational attainment
- location (local or commuters)
- productivity
- availability
- underemployment
PHYSICAL CONDITION is an inventory of available development sites for
manufacturing, retail, or downtown development
a complete business facilities and sites inventory provides info on
high quality sites, special districts, businesses operating at less than full capacity, facilities in poor condition or that are obsolete
these details can provide insight into spatial and physical qualities of a location
land use, zoning, and location
land values and cost
conditions of buildings: age, size, access, and availability
vacancy rates and absorption
building activity
parking facilities
condition and capacity of infrastructure: air, rail, waterways, roadways, utilities
environmental conditions, including air and water quality
business climate provides:
insight into how supportive the local economic environment is to business … who is locating and why? who is successful or failing and what are the reasons? do companies feel like they have the support of the local economy? what are the public and private financing programs?
These items provide information on how the community promotes and supports business development
- community attitudes
- labor relations
- business taxes
- business regulations
- level and quality of municipal services
- business services (lawyers, computer and copy services, etc)
- workforce training programs
- manufacturing extension programs
- access and cost of capital
- transportation access - airports, train, highways
Knowledge-based resources provide insight into the
technical and scientific resources available to support industry development
knowledge-based resources include:
federal labs science and research parks industry incubators colleges and universities technical training schools
quality of life/general living conditions
describes the cultural, historical, recreational, natural, and other characteristics of a community - NO UNIVERSAL Definition
quality of life indicators
- housing availability, conditions and cost
- public services: type, level, quality
- quality of public education systems
- universities, colleges, and vocational schools
- crime rates
- cultural and recreational opportunities
- personal taxes
a target industry analysis can
project industry growth and land absorption into the future
a retail leakage analysis:
indicates which retail categories are adequately serving residents from within city limits and indicates which retail types are serving residents from other locations
target industries are
industries that are a best fit for a community based on the Economic Base Analysis and business climate factors. Works best with industrial and office sectors. These targets become the focus for retention and attraction efforts
land use demand forecasting
can be calculated based on predicted job growth for industrial office and retail sectors
with GIS mapping___
locations of retail, industrial, and office jobs can be plotted so that clusters, circulation and land uses can be compared – mapping of local businesses by types
fiscal impact analysi
various land uses generate different levels of property, sales, and other taxes and each land use type has different costs associated with utilities, public safety, traffic and other impacts. this analysis projects the relevant net benefit to a community as it expands its industrial, commercial, retail and housing acreage
