Seize the Time: Needed Research on Local Economic Development in an Era of Increased Attention to Problems of Place

Authors

Timothy J. Bartik, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment ResearchFollow

Upjohn Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6238-8181

Issue Date

September 2022

Abstract

With the increased attention to place-based policies comes an increased need for policy-relevant research on local economic development. Within the policy area of local economic development, this paper identifies five types of research needs: 1) better definitions of local labor markets; 2) policy know-how on how local economic development’s benefits can be better spread to distressed neighborhoods; 3) evidence on what types of jobs have both good growth prospects in the U.S. economy yet also provide good long-run job opportunities in local labor markets for the majority of U.S. workers who lack a bachelor’s degree; 4) estimates of how local worker education or skill-upgrading programs, or worker attraction programs, affect local labor market outcomes for different groups of workers; and 5) more-rigorous evaluation both of customized business services provided to individual firms and of more-comprehensive regional economic development strategies.

Series

Policy Paper No. 2022-028

DOI

10.17848/pol2022-028

Keywords

local economic development policies, local labor markets, good jobs, program evaluation, neighborhoods, remote worker attraction, place-based scholarships

Subject Areas

Promise scholarships; ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; Local labor markets