Bitterroot Valley receives economic check-up to help steer EDA

Of a variety of economic development studies underway in Ravalli County, one is
just weeks away from completion and promises to help the county’s Economic
Development Authority better guide its work.

By JAMIE OGDEN Staff Reporter

Conducted by the Center for the Rocky Mountain West, the needs assessment
focuses solely on Ravalli County and was funded by a $22,000 grant from the
U.S. Forest Service to the EDA, who hired the Missoula-based, but
regionally-focused, organization last fall.

Last week, Dr. Larry Swanson, an economist with the Center for the Rocky
Mountain West, visited local EDA members to discuss the project.

Utilizing a special database housed at the center, Swanson said the performance
of Ravalli County’s economy will be gauged regionally, in the context of a variety
of local economic factors across the 22-state region.

Swanson said the county will be ranked, across a broad set of indicators, with
between 20 and 30 carefully selected peer counties, mostly from across the
Rocky Mountain West.

Suitable peer counties are chosen, he said, according to concrete similarities
with Ravalli County, such as population, but also according to like
circumstances, such as high proportions of land in federal forest.

Side by side rankings, according to Swanson, provide a way for the local EDA to
gauge the counties’ economic strengths and weaknesses.

"You begin to develop a realistic set of expectations," he said last Wednesday.

According to Swanson most local economic development groups begin with a
"wish list" approach to economic development – a list of projects that seem well
suited and in the best interest of the area.

"The problem with that approach is it’s in a vacuum relative to realistic
expectations and your place in the national economy," said Swanson.

For example, he said the degree to which workforce development and training
programs are meeting the valley’s needs must be addressed.

Local communities tend to "gear up" for workforce development and training when
they are recruiting for new businesses, said Swanson, but do not provide
consistent and ongoing programs.

That can have a negative effect locally, according to Swanson, if most of the
community’s economic growth is taking place in small businesses which are
adding only one or two employees at a time as needs change.

"You need continuous workforce development because you want workforce
development when people are at work, not when they’re unemployed," said
Swanson. "And it needs to be very responsive to the needs of businesses in the
local area, not a cookie-cutter approach."

In a time of economic restructuring and change, Swanson said, workforce needs
are changing quickly and some of Montana’s workforce, particularly those who
have worked in the state’s traditional economic sectors, are getting left behind.

"We’ve got to do it, we can’t just talk about it," he said. "I think workforce
development and training has always been on the table for economic developers,
but we have to do it with earnest, and it needs to be strategically planned."

Emerging data on the county shows a significant low-income population and a
significant underemployed population, said Swanson, along with a
disproportionate reliance – "almost an imbalance" – on self-employment.

Together with high population growth, Swanson said he guesses that high
self-employment means many people are piecing together an income.

With in-migration and economic restructuring, he said the data may also be
partially explained by the presence of many entrepreneurs, home-based
businesses, and others who can work from home.

"I’ve got a feeling that you’ve got a talent base that is higher than the economics
reflect," Swanson said.

The new needs assessment will focus on these areas and others, he said,
including personal income levels compared to local government revenues and
expenditures and business locations.

"You can’t expect to be a high competitor if you’re not investing in certain areas,"
Swanson said.

The Center for the Rocky Mountain West is "ready to run numbers," according to
EDA Director Betty Davis.

After data collection, Swanson said a peer review committee will offer additional
analysis and perspective. Peers will likely be selected by the EDA’s
sub-committee on the project, according to Swanson.

A final report is expected by early summer, and information will be shared with
other organizations conducting economic studies in Ravalli County as well as
interested parties like the Ravalli County Planning Board, Davis said.

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