Toward Inclusive Economic Development

U.S. cities and metro regions have long made jobs and financial competitiveness the center of their economic development strategies—usually by recruiting companies, building high-tech clusters, or attracting talent. Now a new report released Monday by the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program calls for a paradigm shift in economic development thinking, away from competitiveness and growth, and toward a more inclusive prosperity.

While 95 percent of the largest metros in the U.S. have seen aggregate job growth since 2009, according to the report, over 40 percent of all metros have lost jobs in their advanced industries. More troubling, the growth of low-wage occupations has surpassed the growth of middle-skill and higher-wage jobs in the U.S. This has coincided with a troubling increase in concentrated poverty in both cities and suburbs.