New Industry Job Tracker shows which US metro economies are recovering the fastest

• Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector rose sharply across most US metropolitan economies in May.

• Michigan’s metro areas saw major gains in manufacturing jobs led by Detroit, Grand Rapids and Battle Creek.

• Bloomsburg-Berwick, Pennsylvania experienced the nation’s steepest decline in government jobs.

These are just three insights from Localintel’s new interactive Industry Job Tracker. The Seattle-based technology company created the publicly accessible Tracker to help policy makers, analysts and economic developers keep an eye on employment change in the nation’s metropolitan areas.

“Employment data is only useful when it’s easily accessible by those who need it most,” Dave Parsell, CEO of Localintel said. “The Tracker makes it easier to monitor the impact of COVID-19 and relief programs on employment levels across hundreds of cities and 12 industry sectors.”

The online tool draws on the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and is updated monthly by Localintel. The Industry Job tracker is publicly accessible on Localintel’s website at www.ecdev.org/Insight/job-tracker.

Kaycee Kemper, Vice President at the Adams Economic Alliance in Gettysburg PA, is using the Industry Job Tracker to monitor the recovery of her local economy. “We’re a major tourism destination and our leisure and hospitality businesses have been hit hard. Localintel’s Tracker showed that we lost 44% of leisure and hospitality jobs in April, but thankfully saw a 28% increase in May,” Ms Kemper said.

“According to the Tracker, this improvement was well above average when compared to other locations with a high concentration of leisure and hospitality jobs. However, the recovery is only just beginning so we are keeping a close eye on Localintel’s Tracker to monitor employment change as various COVID-19 relief programs wind down.” Ms Kemper continued.

Daniel Kennedy at the City of Cleveland’s Department of Economic Development uses Localintel’s Industry Job Tracker to compare the city’s recovery with other locations. Mr Kennedy said, “It was reassuring to see job growth for Cleveland’s professional and business services in May was similar to Detroit and better than Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee.”

He went on to say, “The Tracker also shows Cleveland’s economic recovery in May has not been evenly distributed with job growth in the city’s retail sector lagging behind most other large Midwest metro areas.”

ABOUT LOCALINTEL

Localintel makes online economic development tools that hundreds of organizations have added to their website to promote their community’s advantages, assist local businesses and monitor trends. Localintel’s customers range from the small city of Brazoria (population 3,112 people) through to Texas Economic Development Corporation, Washington DC Economic Partnership, Indy Chamber, New Orleans Business Alliance and the cities of Seattle, Cleveland, Tulsa and Fort Lauderdale. The company was founded in 2016 and has offices in Seattle, Vancouver and Calgary. Please visit our website at www.ecdev.org.

Media Contact: Steve Kirby, VP Partnerships and Sales, Localintel

T: +1.206.326.9319

E: steve@ecdev.org

W: www.ecdev.org