Whether you work in community or economic development, there has always been pressure to measure your success. CED professionals are very familiar with having to explain what type of impact they hope to have with their initiatives.  It is even harder to document success. Evidence-based decision-maki … Continued

It is often hard to make sense of monthly statistics on job growth. Year-over-year changes are dramatically impacted by COVID-19.  With COVID cases rising again, the impact of COVID on tracking job growth or loss, industries affected, and predictions for the future is likely to continue. Fortunately … Continued

In 2017, a CED blog post asked if wages in different parts of the state were sufficient to sustain a person who wants to live and work there. For example, in 2016, nursing assistants in Goldsboro earned $11.83 an hour (median wage) for a mean annual salary of $24,610. Things have improved in terms o … Continued

Recently, the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution released a comprehensive report on the state of the workforce related to water in the United States—jobs tied to drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, green infrastructure, private wells, septic systems, plumbing, and other fie … Continued

The first post in this CED blog series on education and workforce development in North Carolina elaborated on Work Ready Communities. Part II examines opportunities for workforce development within the North Carolina Community College System. Improving pathways to higher education is a key component … Continued

A powerful common denominator between economic development and human capital development is education. Communities with well-regarded schools incentivize businesses to be recruited to an area to make use of local talent. It is a cycle in which the economic vitality of an area is contingent upon the … Continued

In July 2013, I wrote a blog proposing a four-part framework for understanding if specific local organizations have the capacity to implement CED programs. How well does this framework hold up when actually used?  We answer this question using interviews with 31 local partners, over the past two yea … Continued

“In short, software is eating the world.” – Mark Andreessen, co-founded Netscape From cell phones, cars, to wearable tech, software keeps finding new ways to enter our lives. Mobile apps are flourishing and have transformed service-delivery whether we are banking online, hailing an Uber ride, watchi … Continued

Money may not literally grow on trees, but a glance at North Carolina’s rural economies reveals that cash crops sprout not just in our long-cultivated cotton and tobacco fields: they now also root in the steep hillsides of northwestern Christmas tree farms and navigate the waters flowing through the … Continued

Human capital and talent are increasingly important drivers of regional competitiveness. States and localities recognize that their economic development success is inextricably linked to their ability to cultivate and develop a workforce that has the knowledge and skills required by key businesses a … Continued