20 Things Economic Developers Need to Know This Week
The stories Dane thinks you need to see. July 10, 2025 edition.
Welcome to this week's issue of What Economic Developers Need to Know This Week, where we explore the evolving dynamics of our economy.
This week we have 20 tools (+1 repeat from last week with the correct link) , stories, graphics, charts and videos that I think you'll find informative, useful, inspiring, and perhaps even humorous. Some are economic development related directly, and some only indirectly. 🤔
If you're wondering what to do with the info in this newsletter, send something to your board members. It will make you look good!
Today's email is brought to you by Resource Development Group
Founded in 1995, RDG offers customized economic development fundraising solutions exclusively for Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Organizations. That’s their niche. That’s their specialty.
Their highly experienced team has raised over $2 billion -- yes, that’s $2 billion with a “B” -- for communities of all sizes and organizations just like yours.
Every community is unique. Tulsa, OK, is not Maury County, TN. Atlanta, GA is not Detroit, MI. Chattanooga, TN is not Charlottesville, VA. Don’t use another community’s fundraising playbook and expect the same results!
RDG's experts excel in providing customized economic development fundraising solutions for every situation. So whether you’re a single county EDO ready to kick off your first fundraising campaign or a large regional organization on your third funding cycle, they have the team and experience to get you the results you’re looking for.
1) Economic Development and Developers in the News # 203 - Econ dev news from 122 economic development executives and organizations in 36 states.
2) Put Sitehunt in Next Year's Budget: Here's the 3-Line Justification - Budget season's here (or almost here).
3) Podcast 181: Beyond the Strip - Clark County's Economic Transformation with Shani Coleman - Yes, People Actually Live There (They Don't All Sleep in Hotels)
4) Economic Development LinkedIn Boost Group - If you're an economic developer posting on LinkedIn, this is for you.
5) 18 New Economic Development Jobs This Week - In 11 states, from $40,000 - $286,000
6) NIMBY backlash: The Arizona security tech giant wants to build a new HQ in Scottsdale. But their plan to add 1,875 units of housing has brought on a battle with local lawmakers.
7) The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis just launched a major update to their Community Investment Explorer, an interactive tool for examining the distribution of community and economic development capital at the state, regional and neighborhood levels. It includes several new enhancements, including updated data, funding in rural communities, trend graphs and more.
Send any feedback or questions to Mike Eggleston.
8) The pool of blue-collar workers who are able and willing to perform tasks on a factory floor in the United States is shrinking. As baby boomers retire, few young people are lining up to take their place. About 400,000 manufacturing jobs are currently unfilled, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
9) EDO Marketplace: How consistency powers economic development success.
With Sitehunt, know which site wins: instantly.
Sitehunt’s Site Scoring feature automatically ranks your properties based on how well they match an RFI’s requirements.
When an RFI comes in, Sitehunt checks each site against the criteria and gives it a score. Higher score = better fit.
No more guesswork. No more bias. Just fast, fair, data-backed rankings that help you pick the right site—faster.
10) America's most boring big cities:
11) Jim Gibson: The Evolution of Economies: From Industrial Giants to Adaptive Ecosystems
12) Last week I shared a map like this of U.S. Housing Shortages by State, County, and City. Lots of you emailed and asked for the link. If you want it and didn't already ask for it, here it is.
13) How the Village of Bradshaw, Nebraska increased their housing stock by 15% in one day.
14) One piece of great news I discovered this week: productivity is starting to boom again:
From 1950 through the late 1990s, U.S. productivity growth went through three distinct phases: High growth from 1950 through 1973 (2.8%), low growth from 1973-1995 (1.4%), and then high growth from 1995 through 2004 (3%).
After that things kind of went pretty slow again, until COVID. During the COVID years of 2020-2023, things sort of seesawed up and down. Since then, according to the chart, we're up over the 2004-2020 era.
If you're too young to remember why growth boomed in 1995-2004, here's a hint (this is from 1994):
15) In the United States, the number of apprenticeships for high-schoolers is tiny, just over one-tenth of a percent of students, according to an estimate by the think tank New America. By contrast, in Switzerland -- which has been praised widely for its apprenticeship model, including by U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon -- 70 percent of high-schoolers participate. Indiana is among several states, including Colorado, South Carolina and Washington, that have embraced the model and sent delegations to Switzerland to learn more.
