28 Things Economic Developers Need to Know This Week
The stories Dane thinks you need to see. July 2, 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 28 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!
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0) 💥 (Sorry, the link was broken last week.) Join an Economic Development LinkedIn Boost Group: If you're an economic developer posting on LinkedIn this is for you.
I'm already part of a few small group texts where economic developers drop links to their LinkedIn posts. Then everyone in the group jumps in to like, comment, and boost them.
It really works. I've seen a noticeable increase in engagement on my posts, and several economic developers have told me it's helped them gain visibility, build relationships, and even get traction on major initiatives in their communities.
Now, I'm helping organize more of these algo-boost groups and I want them to be geographically diverse, so your content reaches well beyond your usual network.
- 📱 iPhone users will be grouped with other iPhone users.
- 🤖 Android users with other Android users.
- 👥 All groups are only for economic developers.
Whether you post regularly or are just dipping your toes in, this is a great way to amplify your voice, support your peers, and elevate the profession.
- 👉 Want in? Sign up here.
- 💬 Have questions? Just reply to this email or contact me at dane@danecarlson.com.
- The idea came originally from Ben McDaniel.
1) US housing shortage by county:
2) Was your community in a declared major disaster last year or the previous? If so, the EDA has released info on the FY2025 Disaster Supplemental Grant Program: Approximately $1.45 billion available to support economic recovery activities in areas that received major disaster declarations because of hurricanes, wildfires, severe storms and flooding, tornadoes, and other natural disasters occurring in calendar years 2023 and 2024. (via Brian Kelsey)
3) Can bringing back manufacturing help the heartland catch up with 'superstar' cities?
4) You know who else wants you back in the office? Catering companies: The rise of remote work wasn't kind to caterers, who have seen revenue rebound the past couple of years
5) Companies are paying people more money to stay in a job than they are to new hires. This is highly unusual. Normally "job switches" (aka new hires) get the big pay bumps. But that's not happening right now in the "Great Stay" economy. Since February, job stayers have gotten bigger pay raises than job switchers.
6) A deep dive: Why are homes in western states so expensive?
7) Excellent read from Jim Gibson: Good Governance, Enduring Prosperity: The Role of Institutions and Governance in Economic Futures
8) Endless wait times and excessive procedural fuss -- it's all part of a tactic called "sludge": "It's like an abusive relationship. All it takes is a 20 percent-off coupon and you'll come back."
9) Energy exports by country (the comparison is pretty stark):
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10) By the end of the decade, AI data centers could account for 3.4% share of total global CO2 emissions.
It would exceed the emissions contributed by both Germany (1.75%) and Saudi Arabia (1.58%) combined in 2022, per estimates from the IEA:
11) America's job market is in a "hire less, fire less" mode, and even that "fire less" part might not last: According to the US Labor Department, continuing jobless claims — the number of people still collecting unemployment benefits after their first claim — rose to 1.97 million for the week ending June 14, their highest level in more than 3.5 years. Meanwhile, initial jobless claims (a proxy for new layoffs) remained stable:
12) Spending on home improvement shrank for eight straight quarters before a modest rebound in early 2025:
13) The Economist tallied up the numbers on the version of the OBBBA that just passed the Senate:
14) Michael Thomas of Clearview Energy, a company that tracks energy-related data, estimates that this bill will lead to the cancellation of more than 500 GW of planned energy supply in the U.S.:
That would have represented more than a 42% increase in U.S. electricity production, and it would have gone to power homes, factories, offices, data centers, and more.
15) Thomas estimates that this will lead to substantial increases in electricity bills for Americans:
16) Until recently, truck loading and unloading has remained one of the few warehouse jobs not yet automated. Not anymore: DHL and others are rolling out robots like Boston Dynamics' Stretch, which uses suction grips and AI to move up to 580 packages per hour, nearly twice the rate of a human.
17) Robots on the job site: This site-surveying robot, CivDot, reads a simple file of coordinates, then moves across the site marking key points with spray paint or a laser. A crew member follows behind to place flags or stakes where needed. CivDot can lay out up to 3,000 points a day while maintaining a high level of accuracy.
18) Martin Karl Vanags has been on a roll with his newsletter The Curated Morning. He's recently refocused it more specifically on economic development, while moving other articles to his new subscription newsletter JustBe.
19) Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan just leased 450,000 square feet in Fort Worth for a massive film production studio. Both buildings have been nominated by the city for designation as qualified media production locations by the Texas Film Commission.
If approved, they'd be among the first in the state to benefit from the new incentives. And the city itself would become a serious contender in the increasingly competitive race to lure productions away from California, Georgia, and New Mexico.
According to this week's podcast guest, Kevin Crowder in his newsletter Street Economics Daily, "Fort Worth's advantage isn't tax breaks or bureaucratic hand-holding, it's simply not being Los Angeles."
From Dane: Not only do I publish the Econ Dev Show newsletter and podcast for free every week, but over the past year, I've also been developing a groundbreaking tool for economic development organizations: Sitehunt.
I've been told it's the first truly practical application of AI in economic development.
Your peers agree. In its first year alone, Sitehunt is already being used by EDOs of all sizes across the country.
Here's what it can do:
- Automatically research and enhance your existing buildings and site database, or even create one from scratch.
- Continuously discover new, suitable buildings and sites within your communities to grow your economic development inventory.
- Generate compelling data and marketing content for your sites.
- Instantly analyze RFIs and match them to your inventory, ensuring you never miss an opportunity from a site selector.
Can I give you a demo? I promise you'll be amazed at what Sitehunt can do.
20) If your workforce development ecosystem is producing all the motivated and skilled employees your businesses need, congratulations! You are a unicorn 🦄 in the world of economic and workforce development. (Please reach out to Andy Portera if this is you. He wants to hear about what and how you are doing it.). If not, read this: How to Conduct A Workforce Needs and Opportunities Assessment.
21) The always spicy Deb Brown is at it again this week: That darn city council...
22) Amazon is projected to be a Amazon is projected to be a larger shipping carrier than USPS by 2028 by 2028:
23) Following a production surge in late March and April, when manufacturers ramped up activity to build inventory ahead of tariff deadlines, Placer's Industrial Manufacturing composite indicates that activity at manufacturing facilities, representing visits for both facility employees (estimated based on dwell time) and visitors, who often represent logistics partners, slowed in May and June.
24) Here's every county that grew by >50,000 people from 2020 to 2024:
25) Economic Development and Developers in the News # 202 - Econ dev news from 75 economic development executives and organizations in 24 states.
26) Podcast 180: Red Tape, Real Stories, and Economic Revival with Kevin Crowder - "Miami Vice" Economic Development Advice
27) 26 New Economic Development Jobs This Week - In 13 states, from $45,000 - $286,000
28) 23 Things Economic Developers Need to Know This Week - The stories Dane thinks you need to see. June 26, 2025 edition.
