Economic development strategies work best when they are designed to capitalize on a demographic or economic trend. The data is clear that the 77 M Millennial generation in America strives to live in an urban mixed use environment where they can walk or take a quick Uber or scooter ride to where they want to […]
Workforce and talent will continue to be driving forces in site location, retention, and expansion decisions.By Rebecca Kusner of R4Workforce We’ll see communities adapting and integrating new technology, businesses identifying and hiring for skills, and job-seekers/workers picking jobs based on the quality of the workplace in 2019. Role of technology. From Artificial Intelligence to block […]
State government leaders across the union are embracing the federal Opportunity Zone program in an effort to create a range of new state government incentives designed to jump start this new federal government program in the 8700 federal certified Opportunity Zone sites. Arkansas S.B. 196. Enacted February 26, 2019. Legislation was passed by both houses […]
The steady growth in e-commerce will not only continue in 2019 but will increase as more shoppers look to their computer and not their car to drive to the mall to buy their goods and services. The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce estimated that in the third quarter of 2018 e-commerce retail sales […]
Politics, like business, can be ugly. The current leadership in Washington in both the White House and the Congress is anything but pretty. However, Trump Administration actions to address the national trade imbalance, reduce federal regulation of business and implement the federal tax reform legislation is having an overall positive impact on the economy. Trump’s […]
A mullet, the infamous haircut of the 1990s, is thankfully not a trend but a fad. Trends are longer term and has a lasting impact. From an economic standpoint, globalization is an example of a trend impacting corporate site location that has driven many U.S. companies to search for lower cost global production facilities as […]
The business costs of a community impact its attractiveness for economic activity. Business Costs include the wage rates needed to be paid for workers in the relevant industry, home prices and other major expenses and transportation costs including lost time in traffic congestion. Employee wage rates for a given industry have a substantial impact on […]
The quality of a region’s infrastructure and transportation system directly impacts its chances for current and future economic success. Measures of infrastructure and transportation include a review of major highways, transit and airport systems, and level of traffic congestion that all impact the ability to do business. Ohio has a robust highway and roadway transportation […]
With the retirement of the Baby Boom generation and the invasion of the millennial generation, no issue for a region matters more than the availability of skilled workers. Comparing industry job growth and loss in Ohio to North Carolina illustrates why North Carolina is succeeding. The North Carolina economy continues to transition away from manufacturing […]
Ohio, like the nation, is transitioning from a manufacturing based economy to a service economy. The Buckeye state remains a manufacturing leader but the number of jobs in this sector have seen a dramatic decline. Trade, transportation and utilities, education and health care, government and professional service jobs all have more jobs in Ohio than […]