Sept jobs report is out from BLS or US metros. Charlotte appears to be the headliner this month. We're down to one large metro w/ job growth of 2%+ YoY: Charlotte, 2.88% San Antonio, 1.85% Columbus, 1.54% Indianapolis, 1.46% Philadelphia, 1.42% Pittsburgh, 1.26% Nashville, 1.24% Phoenix, 1.12%

This week I tried to shine a light on some positive trends in regional economies at a site selection conference in Fort Lauderdale to cut through the negativity that seems to dominate headlines at the national level. Takeaway for me: Positivity seems to be in high demand these days.

September jobs report for states is out from BLS. Texas continues to lead in net new jobs (+168K), and South Carolina adds another month to its hot streak of leading in job growth rate (2.3%).

Kudos to an interviewee yesterday, who managed to work in a, "What would you say you do here, Bob?" Warms my consultant heart.

I'm always eager to learn from other public speakers and one tip I picked up recently from a really good one was about audience connection.

Fun fact: 20 years ago, the economies of Austin & San Antonio were roughly the same size. Today, Austin is ~40% larger than SA. To give you an idea of how ludicrous speed that is, keep in mind that SA consistently ranks among fastest growing metros, about on pace w/ Miami, Tampa, Phoenix. 🤯

BLS announced today that the September jobs report for metro areas will be out on December 17.

Elon is tweeting about Austin again. Cue the recent boosters vs old heads showdown in the comments. But if you can look past that, Austin is on a truly remarkable run. A "bad" year in Austin? Just about 3% real growth. 🤯

I have a new essay on place-based economic development policies as "broadly-shared abundance policy" at Site Selection magazine: siteselection.com/incentives-s... Key pt: econ dev policies can boost abundance IF targeted at distressed areas/non-employed, & if local housing policies accommodate.

Fun conversation today. Last band to see before the world fell apart and first band to see when we came out of it. I’ll start: Dinosaur Jr 11/15/19 Nashville Typhoon 05/07/22 Austin

It is Election Day. I used to write the occasional piece on election results, usually with an economic development spin. While the linked post is no longer up, this is still my proudest moment.

I still don’t really understand the hand-wringing about Abundance, but I’ll chalk that up to my ignorance of the nuances of Democratic politics right now.

No September jobs report for U.S. metros from BLS this week, of course, so I’ve channeled my feelings about it into a Gemini deep dive on Halloween-themed haiku: Fog hides labor's truth, Economists stare and guess, Silence is the scare.

There should be a Molly Ivins quote about the beauty and danger of Texas storms but I can’t seem to find one.

Few things warm my heart like a well-run open data portal. 54% of Texas cities reported taxable sales growth YoY thru 2025Q2, per new data from the Texas Comptroller. Fastest growing cities (min. $500M):

New over at Substack: In My Mind I'm Going to (South) Carolina open.substack.com/pub/civicana...

Big new U.S. job quality survey just dropped. From Gallup, my @upjohninstitute.bsky.social colleagues Sue Houseman & @truesdale.bsky.social & others. Data will be public & longitudinal. finance.yahoo.com/news/landmar...

Not exactly 47 is the new 27 but not bad either. Still among my favorites.

The Wage Gap open.substack.com/pub/civicana...

Civic Analytics civicanalytics.substack.com/subscribe?pa...

I won't do the old-guy thing lamenting our transition to video-based content. But I wrote about Austin for many years and I miss it. I miss writing in general. So I'm giving this a go: substack.com/@civicanalyt....

Love this bit: “zoning code is a story about who gets to live where, & why.” Also, great resource for every planner and city manager to know about.

Sorry to hear that EDA is discontinuing funding for University Centers. UCs are important technical assistance partners for local economic developers, especially in places outside major metro areas. UCs help level the playing field for many smaller communities. #econdev

The data center angst feels like a leading indicator of a broader economic development question about if the public will ever support high-value industrial activity that: -uses a lot of power -doesn’t create many jobs Because that seems like the future of manufacturing.

Other notables from the August jobs report for places I enjoy tracking: Austin +9,700 jobs, 0.71% Nashville +14,000, 1.18% Edinburg (McAllen) +3,900, 1.31% Columbus +17,200, 1.46% Cincinnati +8,200, 0.70% DFW +27,300, 0.64% NW Arkansas +8,300, 2.71% Raleigh +9,500, 1.26%

According to new data from BLS yesterday, job growth in August was down in 56% of U.S. metros compared to a year earlier. But there are some bright spots around the country, where job growth has significantly improved so far in 2025 compared to where things stood last year.

August jobs report for metros is out today from BLS, and South Carolina continues to feature prominently among the top performers.

Interesting stats on venture dev orgs from SSTI. They looked at 31 VDOs in 20 states: 💰 VDOs invested in 4,600 firms w/ med deal of $260K 📈 VDO-backed firms employ 323K & pay ~$29B wages ⚖️ Companies raised $25B I'm curious how many VDOs publicly supported thru #econdev. ssti.org/blog/compreh...

No. 1, amazing quip. No. 2, imagine what statewide games for #localgov occupations of different types could do for recruiting young people to public service and municipal careers. www.wsj.com/lifestyle/we...

“In the coming weeks and months…” Just go with months. They contain the other things.

Some thoughts on embracing failure in conversations with recent graduates and early-career professionals: www.linkedin.com/posts/brianj...

Oldie but goodie: PolitiFact - Barack Obama says Austin's tech sector drives more than a quarter of local economy www.politifact.com/factchecks/2...

Good rundown of how new state legislation effective today will impact local zoning and housing markets in Texas: fortworthreport.org/2025/08/31/l...

CodeNEXT reboot in Nashville? Good one from @stelliott.bsky.social & Cynthia Abrams @wpln.bsky.social.

A few more shout-outs here: 📈 South Carolina: Among labor markets with 250K+ jobs, three of the top five fastest growing in July nationally, based on preliminary estimates, were in SC: Charleston (1), Columbia (4), and Greenville (5). Plus Charlotte at 6.

📣 July jobs report for metros out today from BLS 📊 Here's my usual rundown of fastest growing metros, plus final list for June based on revised estimates.

July jobs report for U.S. metros expected tomorrow morning from BLS. Here's what I'm watching for: 📉 We were down to two large (1M+) metros (Charlotte, Orlando) at 2.0%+ year-over-year (YoY) in June. Will there be any in July?

Make life a little easier for people is a radical approach to city management. Not sure where to start? Just ask them. Resident engagement outside the echo chambers of social media and public meetings is some of the best $ you will ever spend as a city manager.

Obligatory post-conference session photo post. Enjoyed talking about some of my favorite places I'm tracking in my state of the economy presentation at the Southern Economic Development Council conference in Oklahoma City. Amazing activity across the SEDC region.

I’m a homer for some city boosterism, but even so, I enjoyed being in OKC this week. Positivity and optimism is nice for a change.

This is not unlike the first thought I had walking across the UT-Austin campus for the first time as a new, out-of-state student in 2002.

Good example here from LinkedIn of how economic developers use BLS data for community marketing. www.linkedin.com/posts/chad-d...

Importantly, I would have nothing to talk about on LinkedIn. @wsj.com www.wsj.com/personal-fin...

Pinned Popular With Friends aka a zoning group chat in Nashville.

But good showing for #Ohio in the June jobs report, also out this week from BLS. Among large US metros, Columbus, Cincy, and Cleveland all ranked in the top 10 for job growth (%), YoY. Ohio 3 | Texas 1 (SA) JobsOhio wins this round.

Regional data has been trending downward for several months. Among large US metros, only two, Charlotte and Orlando, are 2.0%+ YoY job growth, according to BLS data out this week. Fewer than one-half are 1.0%+. #jobsreport

Ranking among the fastest growing local economies in % and numeric terms is really something. Gold stars to these metros based on today's jobs report from BLS: Boise, ID Charleston, SC Charlotte, NC Columbia, SC Fayetteville, AR Myrtle Beach SC Raleigh, NC Salt Lake City, UT

Top five list for my upcoming talk at the Southern Economic Development Council annual conference in OKC: