There are several pieces of a strong economic development program, but job creation is the one I get asked about most frequently.
Measuring economic development efforts is difficult. Economic development is defined as the increase in capital flow to an area. So, higher wages, capital investment, tourism dollars and new jobs are all important. Let’s take a look at how we try to help job creation.
First and foremost, we work with our existing business base to help them be more successful. In our business retention and expansion plan, we meet with local business representatives to determine area strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. We then advocate on their behalf to make necessary beneficial changes to existing systems.
We are partners with local entrepreneurial efforts. Start-ups are the fastest growing job creation sector in the country and we support the efforts of Codefi and Southeast Missouri State University.
And finally, we recruit new businesses. We work closely with the Missouri Partnership to market our area to the U.S. and the world. We use real estate websites to market our buildings and land. We meet with professional site selectors to increase their awareness of our area strengths. And we attend targeted trade shows to meet one on one with potential clients.
How are we doing? For the past year and a half, we have consistently been in the top three of the eight MSA’s in the state of Missouri.
