This American Life on “How to Create a Job”

One of my favourite radio programs is This American Life, which I often listen to as a podcast and also airs in Canada on CBC Radio One. This award-winning show combines reported stories, humorous essays and other “acts” into an hour-long show every week.

A few weeks ago, the show turned its attention to a critical issue for economic developers: “How to Create a Job”. The hour-long program asked questions all economic development professionals grapple with. Read the full blog post

Young Professionals Network Launch Event

Millier Dickinson Blais is partnering with the Economic Developer’s Council of Ontario (EDCO) in the creation of a Young Professionals Network, an exciting new venture targeted at economic development practitioners in Ontario under the age of 30 or with less than five years of professional experience. Recognizing that young professionals are often faced with difficulty entering the field and engaging with other practitioners, this network aims to provide a forum for interaction and collaboration, information sharing, and the pursuit of professional development opportunities. Read the full blog post

No Jobs, No Problem for Youth Entrepreneurs

My colleague Darren Shock recently used this space to write about how the values and priorities of Gen Y-ers like him and I may have significant impacts on housing and land use patterns. It’s certainly true that uncertainty regarding the economy and labour market are changing the traditional outlook on home ownership. A recent article by Hannah Seligson in the New York Times suggests that these trends are also forcing young people to change the way they look at employment, too.

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Revitalizing the Rust Belt

The declining fortunes of rural one-industry towns is a common story throughout much of Canada and the United States, but perhaps nowhere has been hit harder than the “Rust Belt” in the American Northeast and Midwest. The decline of the steel industry that began in the 1970s and 1980s drastically changed the economic fortunes of once prosperous towns and cities throughout those regions, and the recent recession was a final nail in the coffin for many of those places.

One town fighting against those forces is Braddock, Pennsylvania, located just outside of Pittsburgh. Read the full blog post

Rethinking the Value of Service Work

Economic development practice in many communities across Ontario and Canada has shifted from a focus on investment attraction and deal-making to business retention & expansion and entrepreneurship development. Employment figures reflect this shift; as of September 2010, 79.9% of Ontario’s labour force is employed in service-producing industries – up from 69% in 1988. As these trends continue, local economies will be driven less by the production and export of commodities, and more by the local production and delivery of services – from international call centres to retail cashiers and bank tellers. Indeed, despite much talk about the importance of the creative economy for economic growth, the service economy is where the workers are.

Read the full blog post