Economic Development Quarterly

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The W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research is home to Economic Development Quarterly (EDQ). EDQ is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to publishing and bringing to the attention of policymakers, decision makers, and researchers the latest quality research findings in economic development.

Upjohn’s mission, vision, and core values of providing unbiased quality research in the areas of employment policy, labor market analysis, and economic and workforce development initiatives closely align with that of EDQ’s mission to promote research supporting the formulation of evidence-based economic development policies, programs, and practices.

We invite you to browse our most current issue, and encourage authors to submit research to EDQ in the areas of Economic Development Theory, Location Theory, Economic Development Finance, Foreign Trade, Economic Development Incentives, Industry Studies, State and Local Economic Development Policy, Labor Economics and Workforce Policy, and Urban and Regional Economies. For questions or additional information please contact: George Erickcek, Co-Editor; Timothy J. Bartik, Co-Editor; Shawn Rohlin, Co-Editor; or Claudette Robey, Managing Editor, or phone EDQ at 269-385-0469.

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Latest Research Featured in Economic Development Quarterly

February 2025; volume 39 issue 1 https://journals.sagepub.com/home/edq

The February issue of the Economic Development Quarterly focuses solely on workforce development. While it is a topic that much too large to be covered in a single issue, its research papers address some of the major issues in the field: how can data be used to assist people in getting jobs, what are the components of effective training programs, and exploring new ways of thinking about workforce development. 

The issue starts with a detailed paper by Christopher O’Leary et.al., “Predictive Analytics Supporting Labor Market Success: A Career Explorer for Job Seekers and Workforce Professionals in Michigan.” In the paper, the researchers describe both the machine learning models behind the predictive analytics of the frontline staff-mediated version of Career Explorer and the self-service version of Career Explorer, which provides clients with customized labor market information. The system was developed by the Michigan Center for Data and Analytics in collaboration with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research and Michigan Works! Southwest. 

Kathleen Bolter and Nicholas Martens, in their paper, “Can Anyone Learn to Code? A Qualitative Study of Place-Based Information Technology Training Programs,” explore the challenges in setting up place-based training programs for high-demand technical jobs, in this case information technology. Drawing from interviews and case studies, this analysis highlights the importance of prescreening processes, support for graduates transitioning to employment, and possibly the most important ingredient, employer involvement.

Perhaps an even greater challenge for a region is to train a future workforce for a developing key industry. In their paper, “Identifying and Developing the Battery Manufacturing Workforce: A Regional Analysis of Supply-Demand of Skilled Workers, Gigi Jones and her research team examine efforts in the Youngstown–Warren–Boardman region to support the training needs of the budding electric vehicle battery manufacturing industry. The paper uses a mixed-methods approach that includes a supply–demand analysis of the region; an analysis of the National Labor Exchange data to identify the most common and desirable skills by employers; a curriculum mapping analysis of local educational institutions training programs; and a cost-benefit analysis of program-educated employees.

Finally, Ned Hill et.al, in their paper, “Ohio's Regional Manufacturing Workforce Partnerships: Governing a Common Pool Resource,” reconsider the innate challenges facing regional training programs. In short, they argue that graduates of these programs become a common pool resource, which is subject to the classic “tragedy of the commons” problem. Employers who offer experiential learning opportunities in their workplaces may be unsuccessful in hiring the graduates and, therefore, the training programs could flounder as the participating employers do not earn a return on their resource expenditures. The paper’s findings are based on the authors examination of Ohio's manufacturing industry sector partnerships (ISP).