Regional Economies Project - Overview
Purpose: The Twin Challenges of Economic Growth and Workforce Investment
The California Regional Economies Project developed information that measures the performance of California's regional economies. This information provides a key resource in economic and workforce development planning, and a bridge connecting economic and workforce policies and programs at the state and regional levels.
Economic Growth
- Identify sectors for innovation and growth.
- Identify workforce and other policies to support high growth sectors.
- Most focus will be on the region's economic base.
Workforce Investment
- Identify sectors where people can find career paths and upward mobility.
- Identify workforce policies that support both individuals and sectors.
- Most focus may be on population-serving sectors.
The Project responds to two separate sets of regional priorities: to promote long-term economic growth in sectors in the region's economic base, especially in sectors with potential for high-wage job growth; and, to respond to workforce shortages being seen in many population-serving sectors that provide a significant number of jobs for the region, whether or not they also demonstrate rapid growth potential.
Project Design
The California Regional Economies Project is a detailed analysis of each regional economy in California – and their key industry clusters - that identifies structural economic changes and long-term trends. The reports coming out of the project include nine regional Economic Base Reports, three cross-regional industry cluster studies and three monographs on key issues.
As part of the process, interactive regional economic forums were held to present the results of draft Economic Base Reports and industry cluster studies, discuss the methodology used to complete the analyses, and obtain participants' input to help identify industry clusters of opportunity for more in-depth study.
Our next goal is to institutionalize the regional analyses, in order to:
- Continuously measure performance throughout the California economy.
- Improve economic and workforce development planning and decision-making.
- Bridge economic and workforce policies and programs at the state and regional levels.
- Enable users statewide to obtain, interpret, and apply economic and workforce information.