25 Things Economic Developers Need to Know This Week

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 25 tools, 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!

1) Today's email is brought to you by Sitehunt. The difference between raw land or a vacant building and a development ready site is information. Schedule a quick demo and let Dane show you how to identify more sites in your community.

2) Cheap mortgages are deterring workers from relocating for $250,000 jobs:

• New plants opening in the US south struggling to fill openings
• Workers don't want to give up low-interest mortgages to move

3) Something to think about:

4) Where are the AI jobs? Not the jobs for AI, but the jobs for people making the AI:

5) Speaking of AI, here's how it's improving:

6) In cities across the US, governments use an array of policies to boost their local economies and promote growth and innovation. Economic developers frequently make use of tools like tax incentives, abatements, and exemptions to attract and retain businesses. They create manufacturing and innovation hubs and promise a supply of skilled workers for firms who choose to locate in their city. While billions of dollars are spent by local governments on economic development, the impact of this investment is still uncertain. In this webinar, experts discuss challenges facing city economic developers in the US including the costs of business incentives, frictions in local labor markets, and the political factors influencing economic development: