Best Places to Work In Pennsylvania

What is it?

A survey, study and award program to identify the best places of employment in Pennsylvania for the benefit of the Commonwealth, its workforce and businesses.

Why was this program developed?

Develop definitive information to help existing companies in Pennsylvania retain their workforce. Promote Pennsylvania's best employment opportunities to attract new workers. Distinguish businesses in the Commonwealth that attract and retain Pennsylvania's talented workforce.

Who organized the program?

Central Penn Business JournalGreat Place to Work® Institute, Inc. Kuntz Lesher LLP Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Team Pennsylvania Foundation

Get the latest list here.

Black Churches Take Aim at the Economy

The Rev. Dennis Dillon would like to see every black church in Brooklyn involved in some kind of economic development program - and, he says, that definitely includes the hundreds of small, under-the-radar congregations in every poor neighborhood.

"Even the little churches can take on a project," he said this week. "God's Battalion of Prayer, a [Pentecostal] church in Flatbush, runs a bakery. Another church makes greeting cards. The opportunities are all over out there."

It is this thinking that inspired Dillon, the publisher of a free weekly newspaper, The New York Christian Times, to organize a day-long workshop Monday that he hopes will lead to more economic cooperation between the business and religious communities.

The Black Church Means Business Conference will begin with breakfast at the New York Marriott in downtown Brooklyn and continue with seminars all day. Dillon will wrap up the event with a dinner speech.

More here.

Israeli Companies

Here is an interesting story from Rochester, NY. Many other areas, including Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, and others have set their sights on attracting new high tech Israeli startups.

A group of 20 economic development, business and government representatives leaves today for a weeklong trip to Israel aimed at bringing jobs to the Rochester area.

Greater Rochester Enterprise is leading the mission, which includes representatives from Eastman Kodak Co., Bausch and Lomb Inc., University of Rochester Medical Center, Trillium Group and Nixon Peabody. The trip is aimed as a follow-up to visits earlier this year by 30 Israeli companies, some of which have since opened Rochester operations.

More here.

Job Growth Up

New US jobs soared at the sharpest rate in seven months in October, the government reported yesterday, helped by a surge in construction activity as hurricane-battered areas in the Southeast were rebuilt.

A surprisingly strong 337,000 jobs were added to payrolls last month - twice the 169,000-job growth that Wall Street economists had forecast and the strongest since March when 353,000 jobs were created, the Labor Department said.

More here.

Global Partnering by EDOs

Just a heads up.

My new article on why ED organizations should be building global partnerships was just published. It is a part of a series published the the U.S. Department of Commerce and the International Economic Development Council.

You can download the entire issue, including my article here. I welcome your comments. Thank you.

Manufacturing Minnesota Style

Minnesota’s manufacturing industries directly and indirectly contributed an estimated $87 billion to Minnesota’s economy and about 41 percent of private-sector jobs in 2003, according to a new analysis released by the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
These estimates constitute the most current thumbnail sketch of the state’s manufacturing sector where employment is dominated by computer and electronics, food manufacturing and fabricated metal products manufacturers.

Manufacturers directly employed nearly 345,000 workers, about 16 percent of the private-sector workforce. In addition, the industry indirectly spawned another 567,000 jobs. Among the other findings:

*Manufacturing employees were paid 20 percent more than the average private-sector employee in 2003, earning an average $46,599, an increase of 23 percent since 1998.

*Minnesota’s manufactured exports hit $10.5 billion in 2003 with computers and electronics as the top export industry.

*Seven of the 19 Minnesota companies on the Fortune 500 list are primarily manufacturing-related businesses.

A new fact sheet containing these and other highlights of the manufacturing sector is now available online at http://www.deed.state.mn.us/facts/PDFs/ManufSector.pdf

What Is the Best Cleveland Can Hope For?

Recently I read an interesting assessment of Cleveland's current economic situation, which is far from good by any measure. One statement stood out in the article, and I think many cities suffer from the same problem:

"In the year since I've been back, I've found Cleveland to be a maddening mix of swagger and insecurity. In a sense, Clevelanders suffer from middle-child syndrome: We don't always feel as loved as our midwestern sisters Chicago or Minneapolis. But at other times we love to brag about the low cost of living here or our first-rate hospitals and metroparks."

I think there are many middle-child cities across America, and as Joel Kotkin and other informed observers have said, many are not likely to make it unless they get on a new path. Many, even despite an invigorated development effort, will not succeed.

More here.

Outsourcing; What Do We Really Know?

Like a well-stocked buffet line, the menu of reports and studies on the question of job and technology exportation has something to satisfy virtually every taste -- other than for those who have a craving for conclusiveness.

The studies each purport to explain why offshore outsourcing is or isn't occurring, and is or isn't a problem; a subset of the "it is a problem" genre includes reports that attempt to estimate exactly how many jobs are being lost.

Each report sheds some light, but each taken by itself has problems in illuminating the phenomenon.

More here.

Georgia: Training On Its Mind

Retraining Georgia's workforce and better training students are the keys to making Georgia economically successful, Georgia Technical and Adult Education Commissioner Michael F. Vollmer said earlier this week.

"What I'm seeing is a resurgence in high-tech manufacturing," he said. "The states that are going to succeed are the states that have a high-tech workforce."

That is indeed what all states need to do, and most states are under-funded from a training standpoint.

More here.

ED Pittsburgh Style

Southwestern Pennsylvania needs to identify and nurture small businesses to help them along and set the stage for sustained regional growth to reverse anemic economic and demographic trends, local experts said earlier this week. More here.

Expanding Young People's Economic Future

A new report shows that eight of 10 indicators of child well-being have improved nationally, corresponding to a six-year period of economic growth and significant expansion of public programs.

Despite this news, the study cautions that nearly one in six young adults, ages 18 to 24, are not working, have no degree beyond high school, and are not enrolled in school. These "disconnected" youth face a particularly tough transition to successful adulthood.

Former Prisoners Workplace Reentry

Many communities face challenges in this area.

Research has shown a clear link between crime and work. Having a legitimate job lessens the chances of reoffending following release from prison. Also, the higher the wages, the less likely it is that returning prisoners will return to crime. However, studies also show that released prisoners confront a diminished prospect for stable employment and decent wages throughout their lifetimes.

Job training and placement programs show promise in connecting former prisoners to work, thereby reducing their likelihood of further offending. Yet, fewer inmates are receiving in-prison vocational training than in the past and fewer still have access to transitional programs that help connect them to jobs in the community.

Download briefing paper here.

Entrepreneurial Breadth and Depth in Rural America

Click here to download an interesting analysis of entrepreneurship and self-employment trends in rural America. Basic message: Both are growing and both will be more important to rural economic development in the future.

Can Rural Places Develp Knowledge Economies?

Yes, even rural America must get with the knowledge economy. Without some key technology and knowledge assets in place, it won't be easy to grow knowledge-based businesses and jobs in rural communities. That is one of the main conclusions by a new study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Download it here.

Kansas Moves on Ethanol

Under the backdrop of the overall U.S. ethanol industry having set another all-time monthly production record, East Kansas Agri Energy broke ground on their new dry-mill ethanol facility in Garnett, Kansas.

East Kansas Agri Energy will produce 26 million gallons of ethanol annually. The plant's process design will be provided by ICM, Inc. of Colwich, Kansas, with Fagen, Inc. of Granite Falls, Minnesota, serving as the design/builder.

More here.

New Urbanism Gets a Chance in Buffalo Area

Click here to read the story.

Austin Turnaround

Austin's economy has spiked and tumbled, and now it's poised for a healthy turnaround. The Austin metropolitan area is predicted to add jobs at the second-fastest pace in the country over the next five years, according to a new study by Boston-based Torto Wheaton Research. Meanwhile, another research firm predicts Austin will add jobs at more than double the national rate.

Austin is ranked behind Las Vegas, which claims the No. 1 spot, and ahead of three Florida cities that round out the top five -- Orlando, West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, according to Torto Wheaton. The CB Richard Ellis Inc. subsidiary supplies data and forecasts on the commercial real estate industry.

More here.

New National Economic Development Poll

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council has just released the 2nd Annual National Economic Development Practitioners survey, which reached approximately 4,000 expert professionals from the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) this month.

The Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC) coordinated the study for IEDC, which collected responses from all 50 states. Learn how the professional experts that help create jobs in their communities stand on how the economy is doing in the U.S. and locally, what needs to happen for more jobs to be created in the future, and what the incoming presidential administration can do from a practical standpoint to boost job growth.

Interesting read. I recommend it.

Download the report here.

How Industries Evolve

Harvard Business Press has just released an interesting book you might want to sample if you're trying to keep up with the industry strategy literature. Read the Introduction here.

Most Expensive Homes in America

At a time when the average new home in the U.S. in 2003 cost $246,300, many people might find the thought of paying $34.87 million for a new home--no matter how nice--unimaginable.

Wow!

More here.

Looking Back at the Great Depression

"Black Tuesday," Oct. 29, 1929, wiped 10% off the value of U.S. common stocks and seared a place in America's financial psyche.

Even today, the popular image of "the panic" is of bankrupted fat-cat investors throwing themselves to their deaths from windows high above Wall Street. This special report looks at Oct. 29, 1929, and the weeks immediately following through the eyes of contemporary reports.

Interesting retrospective. And what did all this mean for economic development? Think about it.

More here.