The Talent Affinity Network hosted Joseph Parilla, Senior Fellow & Director of Applied Research from Brooking Metro, and Co-author of Talent-Driven Economic Development: A New Vision and Agenda for Regional and State Economies, a research report aiming to help economic development leaders recognize the connection between regional and organizational success with talent development.
Joseph discussed how economic development leaders can confidently and knowledgeably approach businesses, educational institutions, and community groups with a clear value proposition that aligns their core capabilities in service of systemic, non-duplicative talent development solutions.
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- Joseph Parilla
RECAP
Brookings Metro is a leading source of ideas and action to create more prosperous, just, and resilient communities. In the pursuit of its mission to collaborate with local leaders to transform original insights into policy and practical solutions that scale nationally, it produces trusted, actionable research; applies it through regional engagements and national networks; and connects with policymakers at all levels to inform impact at scale. Its work illuminates the drivers of prosperity, justice, and resilience for people and communities in the digital age with a team of experts on innovation, economic and workforce development, infrastructure, climate, placemaking, work and workers, and racial equity.
Joseph starts his presentation by noting that talent-based economic development is the driver of economic growth and racial equity, and economic development practice could do more towards centering activity around talent development. Historically, business leaders noted that land, tax policies, and regulations were fundamental factors in site selection, and the field of economic development optimized land as stakeholders could base sale capacity on how large or valuable an area was. Today, about 95% are focusing on the availability of skilled labor, and the value of human capabilities is estimated at $240 trillion, significantly higher than to urban land, which is only at $25 trillion.
Joseph then talks about the challenges that talent development faces, from historical discriminatory policy, to how pathways are too unclear and unequal:
- Family disparities: parental income is one of the biggest factors in the inequity of educational outcomes.
- College is hard to complete: 45 million Americans have started by not completed (people taking on costs without getting benefits)
- Lack of support: Alternative job training pathways are unclear and underfunded. Job training funding has dropped from $17 billion to $5 billion (70% drop)
The importance in talent development is telling: there is growing acknowledgement that talent is a binding constraint to business growth, as 70% of employers perceive a talent shortage. Fortunately, Economic development organizations (EDOs) are dealing with this reality as they are working to bring in employers into partnerships with higher education and workforce development boards. EDOs must be set to focus on three core capabilities of talent development:
Research, Resources, and Relationships.
- Research (Talent intelligence) = Sourcing knowledge and perspectives from various organizations regarding talent production and hiring trends.
- Resources (talent Incentives) = Identifying and advocating for incentives towards job training and provision of up-front financing where a return on investment comes from trained workers with a now higher wage.
- Relationships (Talent Systems) = Systemically engage employers involved with in education and training systems including a convener (EDOs, Higher education institutions, etc.) and surrounded by a variety of supporter organizations, where all engaged can chart the discussion surrounding collective needs.