Identify the Regional Economy

An economy is no longer defined by the political boundaries of a city, county, or state line. Regional economies are formed around the assets of several contiguous communities. Assets can mean different things to different regions. A region should look at surrounding areas that have similar economic structures and identify the diverse assets of those regions. Assets include human and financial capital; research and development institutions; infrastructure; business and policy culture; industrial base; legal and regulatory environment; and others.

• Catalogue of Workforce Information Sources - This is a guide of available federal resources, including service descriptions, resource, and contact information for government workforce and economic development programs.
• USDA Rural Development Office Locator - USDA Rural Development provides funding to rural communities for housing, clean water, hospitals, clinics, community centers, day-care facilities, first responder needs, business development, economic development, job creation and other essential community infrastructure.
• Asset Mapping Roadmap Guide - Find information about asset mapping, and the links to several asset mapping tools.
• Cooperate: A Practitioner's Guide for Effective Alignment of Regional Development and Higher Education - This guide is the result of a partnership between the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative, and the Council of Competitiveness.
• Local Employment Dynamics - Supplies dynamic statistics on employment, job creation, turnover, and earnings by industry, age, and sex, through a partnership between state labor market information agencies and the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Quarterly Workforce Indicators - Find state and local workforce statistics.
• LED Industry Focus - This tool analyzes a collected set of industry sector and workforce measures. View a slide show on Industry Focus.  
• ETA Census - Economic Development HotReports - View regional, state and county economic, demographic, housing, transportation, and community information.
• Occupation Profile - Find national and state occupation information profiles.
• CareerOneStop Salary Tool - This provides national and state occupation salary information.
• Industry Information - This contains a list of links and descriptions of the industry tools available on CareerOneStop.
• Fastest-Growing Industries and Occupations - Search through a table containing high-demand industries and occupations.
• State Workforce Information and Labor Market Information Resources - Find Web site links to state and national career and labor market information offices.
• U.S. Department of Commerce - Bureau of Economic Analysis - BEA produces economic accounts statistics that enable government and business decision-makers, researchers, and the American public to follow and understand the performance of the Nation's economy.