CREC Project News and Updates

The State Economic Development Performance Indicators White Paper

October 12, 2016

Given states’ pressures to demonstrate economic development investment impact, The State Economic Development Performance Indicators White Paper, recently published by the Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) and Smart Incentives, examines commonly used indicators and provides guidance to improve and expand evaluation efforts.

Developed from the Business Incentives Initiative conducted by CREC and Pew Charitable Trusts, state economic development leaders were asked about performance indicators used to evaluate incentives programs. Based on state feedback, data was categorized by business need and type of performance indicator. Of the states that responded, capital access is the dominant category of business need addressed by programs; jobs and investment are the leading indicator type.

Dissatisfied with how common performance indicators – jobs and investment – tell the story of programs’ achievements, state leaders asked for peer advice. All states count jobs, however, this definition varies place to place. A robust jobs indicator should: include a clear definition of (new) jobs; establish a baseline for counting; distinguish between new and existing jobs; include a job quality measurement; explain reporting and verification procedures; and allow for exceptions to the rule. The white paper references two states’ examples including many of these principles, Virginia and California.

Measuring investment as an indicator proves problematic as it includes various metrics across programs and business needs. Investment indicators may include: capital investment, loan or equity investment to a small business, spending to redevelop a brownfield site, or total state assistance to a project.

Three steps states can implement to better select program performance indicators are to develop a clear goal or performance statement; distinguish between indicators that describe outputs and those that describe outcomes; and determine data sources and availability when selecting metrics.

About This Project


Start Date: Feb 2024 — End Date: Jul 2024

CREC works with the Office of Entrepreneurship in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) to develop a set of metrics in support of entrepreneurship and innovation in the state of Nevada. The work is being done in two phases. Phase one involves identifying and reviewing available data for inclusion in a data dashboard. Phase […]

Jobs and Employment Data Exchange (JEDx)
Start Date: Dec 2023 — End Date: Sep 2025

The JEDx initiative is an effort coordinated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation that seeks to develop a public-private approach for collecting and using standards-based jobs and employment data across states. CREC is playing an advisory role by helping to inform: the ongoing development of a standardized data model for employment and wage data […]

PEW CHIPS
Start Date: Aug 2023 — End Date: Apr 2024

CREC will work with Pew to plan the convenings necessary to facilitate the interstate and collaboration between federal and state officials to the facilitate the necessary evaluation, coordination, and collaboration elements of CHIPS.

GO Virginia
Start Date: Nov 2023 — End Date: Oct 2024

The Talent Pathway Initiative (TPI) is a project of Go Virginia Region 7 that will bring together perspectives of leaders in business and education to address Northern Virginia’s workforce needs in computer services, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies. The Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness (CREC) and George Mason University (GMU) Center for Regional Analysis (CRA) will […]

DDAA Research Supplement – Telling the Story of Local Development Districts
Start Date: Jun 2023 — End Date: Dec 2023

The Local Development Districts (LDDs) are a fundamental element of the three-legged Federal, state, and local stool that supports development in Appalachia and the work of the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC). They rely on a variety of funders and stakeholders to support their efforts, which requires educating them on the successes of the LDDs. The […]

National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), EDD COP
Start Date: Jan 2023 — End Date: Apr 2027

CREC is partnering with the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), University Economic Development Association (UEDA), National Association of Regional Councils (NARC), and First Nations Development Institute on a five-year effort to build and nurture the Economic Development District Community of Practice (EDD CoP).  Led by NADO, with support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration […]

Advanced Manufacturing Workforce Collaboration Network (ManTech)
Start Date: Jun 2023 — End Date: May 2024

CREC is partnering with E3 Analytics, Erys Consulting, Anthology Communications, American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative (AMCC), DoD’s Manufacturing Technology Program (ManTech), DoD’s Office of Local Defense Community Cooperation (OLDCC), and University of Kentucky Pigman College of Engineering to facilitate a collaboration network for supporting advanced manufacturing and building the future defense workforce. Through this project, CREC […]

The Hidden Innovation Infrastructure: Understanding the Economic Development Role of Technician Education in the Changing Future of Work
Start Date: Jan 2022 — End Date: May 2024

CREC senior staff advise the Rutgers research team at the Education and Employment Research Center as the team, led by Dr. Michelle Van Noy, seeks to understand the role of technician education in economic development, with a focus on manufacturing, technology, and innovation in regional economies.

New York State (NYS) Tax Incentives
Start Date: Jan 2023 — End Date: Jun 2023

The New York State Tax Incentive Project was an initiative to better understand the state’s business offerings, their effectiveness, and how they compared to other states’ programs. The initiative selected 26 incentives programs that it wanted to focus its research efforts on. CREC was subcontracted to handle the third part of the request, focusing on […]

Inventory of Public and Private Sources of Education and Workforce Data
Start Date: Mar 2023 — End Date: May 2023

CREC created an inventory of public and private sources of education and workforce data to increase the capacity of the public Workforce and Labor Market Information System (WLMIS) to provide relevant data for education and training providers. The inventory considered a wide array of data sources that measure important WLMIS concepts, including: Households and People […]

About the Client

Lumina Foundation

Lumina Foundation is an independent, private foundation committed to increasing the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certificates and other credentials to 60 percent by 2025.