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Montana’s economy gets better grades – Wyoming up, down in study on economy
A’s go to Virgina, Massachusetts, and Minnesota
The Montana economy has improved but it’s still a long way from making the honor roll, a new report card shows.
By JAMES E. LARCOMBE Great Falls Tribune
Montana earned C’s in performance, business vitality and development capacity on the annual report card issued by the Corporation for Enterprise Development.
"Montana’s economy has a mixture of strengths and weaknesses," the nonprofit group reported. "The quality of life indicators suggest that Big Sky Country is hospitable. Financial resources and safeguarding the environment are two areas where the state comes up short."
In 2002, the state received D’s in economic performance and business vitality, but earned a C in development capacity. In 2001, Montana got hit with an F in business vitality.
"We did move up a little and that’s great," said David Gibson, who heads the state’s Office of Economic Opportunity, an economic development initiative established by Gov. Judy Martz shortly after her election in 2000.
But Gibson said he finds the annual report card to be of limited use in helping plot the state’s economic course.
"It’s interesting data," he said. "I feel like we identified a lot of this stuff a long time ago."
The report card, which has been produced by the Corporation for Enterprise Development for the past 17 years, uses 68 measures to assess economic development in three main areas. Top performers in 2003 were Massachusetts, Minnesota and Virginia, states that earned all A’s. Eleven states carded an F in at least one category.
"There is a big lag in the data," Gibson said. "That report card is largely based on data from the year 2000 and before. Some of that data are 10 years old."
Efforts to contact a spokeswoman for the Corporation for Enterprise Development about Gibson’s concerns were unsuccessful Thursday.
Paul Polzin, director of the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Montana, called the grade improvement "pretty good news" but warned that it’s easy to read too much into the grades.
"All these indicators are telling us the same story — that our overall economic performance is somewhat less than what we would like," Polzin said. "You want to use these things to identify long-term trends, not what’s happening today."
Gibson said trends over a decade may be the most meaningful.
"In 10 years, I think we will have seen some pretty good movement," the state’s lead economic developer said.
Montana was ranked last in average annual pay and a category called "strength of the traded sector." It was 48th in private research and development.
Polzin noted that those rankings are hardly news to many state residents.
Montana scored well in employment, largely by avoiding high unemployment and mass layoffs that have hit other states.
The state also ranked sixth in reading proficiency and 12th in math proficiency, but was 45th in average teacher salaries.
While the report card chided the state for not safeguarding its natural resources, that conclusion appears to be based on poor marks in per capita energy consumption and a low recycling rate.
At the same time, Montana led the nation in one category: air quality.
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20031114/localnews/640446.html
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Wyoming up, down in study on economy
Associated Press Billings Gazette
CHEYENNE – Wyoming earned mixed results from an organization that evaluates how well state economies are performing.
Wyoming earned grades of B, F and C on the 2003 Economic Development Report Card issued by Washington, D.C.-based Center for Enterprise Development.
The center evaluates states annually, using 68 different measures.
This year Wyoming gained ground in the area of performance, going from a C to a B. Performance includes employment, earnings, job quality and quality of life.
By Center for Enterprise Development standards, the state slipped in business vitality from a D to an F. This looks at competitiveness of existing businesses and entrepreneurial energy.
For the third year in a row, the state kept its C grade in development capacity, a category that takes human and financial resources into account as well as infrastructure and amenities.
For many involved in economic development in the state, the report contains few surprises.
“There is some insight to be gained,” Cheyenne LEADS President Randy Bruns said. “It’s a good benchmark.” LEADS is the economic development corporation for Cheyenne and Laramie County.
Even so, Bruns said, with measuring devices and report cards like these, the results can be distorted because of the state’s small population and large land size.
The Center for Enterprise Development’s evaluation shows Wyoming’s economy has a fairly low unemployment rate, an influx of new companies and the nation’s lowest rate of mass layoffs.
At the same time, it has low job growth from new businesses, limited venture capital investment and poor diversity among its industries.
“We have 50 dramatically different states,” Center for Enterprise Development spokeswoman Heather Tyler said. “And we know that not all measures apply equally to all states. So by the time you get to 68 measures, a state is not necessarily penalized.”
The nonprofit, nonpartisan agency’s philosophy is that when the benefits of the economy are shared by everyone, the entire economy benefits.
The report card looks at two areas. One is a snapshot of the economy. The other is what has changed.
“Hypothetically, if a state has had a low average annual pay but in the last year it has grown by 30 percent, the pay may still be lower than other states, but it will still get credit for the growth,” Tyler said.
The organization ranked Massachusetts, Minnesota and Virginia as the top performers across the board. Those three states earned all As.
Five other states made the honor roll with all As and Bs – Colorado, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Utah.
Den Costantino, business and industry director at the Wyoming Business Council, said some of the indicators are misleading because they are based on numbers rather than percentages.
“We would naturally be at the low end or the bottom of some of these rankings because of our small population,” he said.
Costantino said the report contains a number of issues that the Business Council – the state’s economic development agency – and other groups are working on.
For instance, he said, the state is setting up a group to address the lack of venture or investment capital, and it’s working on improving other areas.
While some of the interpretations prompt questions, the data are solid, said Dick O’Gara, director of the Center for Economic and Business Data at Laramie County Community College.
“From my analysis, this is one of the best that I have seen over the years,” he added. “As is true of any index of this type, there is some subjectivity involved in what’s measured and how items are weighted. But I can’t disagree with the outcomes.”
Copyright © 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © The Billings Gazette, a division of Lee Enterprises.
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State economy comparison released
By RICK THOMAS
Staff writer
Report states that many American families are still struggling financially
COEUR d’ALENE — Good news is great when you get it, but bad news sells.
A "report card" issued last week by the Corporation for Enterprise Development gives Idaho a little bit of both. The report is a comparison of the economies of the 50 states, with 68 measures taken into account. In the three main indexes assessed by the study, Idaho scored a C in performance, a D in business vitality and a D in development capacity.
That report rates Idaho in the top 10 in 13 of the categories and in the bottom 10 in 17 others, including industrial diversity, business closings and average annual pay.
"This year’s findings are certainly not surprising," said Bill Schweke, the corporation’s research director. "But they are stark confirmation that this is a jobless recovery, and it is a mistake to measure the economic success or stability of American families only with indicators like the gross domestic product. For working people, economic success is clearly about a quality standard of living."
Nationally, the report states that despite more than a year of economic recovery, many American families are still struggling financially. The report also says that even the economies of well-performing states are being stressed by higher unemployment, lower-wage jobs, slower pay growth, and declining employer-provided health coverage.
But some are skeptical of the real motive for the report. Others active in regional economic development had not even heard of the organization prior to the release of the report.
The Washington, D.C.-based organization is registered as a nonprofit and has offices in Durham, N.C.; St. Louis, MO; and San Francisco. It bills itself as creating economic opportunity by helping the poor save, invest and succeed as entrepreneurs.
Georgia Smith, an information officer with the Idaho Department of Commerce, calls the report a marketing strategy to secure business.
"We look at it," she said. "It’s not something that comes up when we look at companies seeking to relocate."
Jonathan Coe, president of the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce, never heard of them. Neither had Tony Berns, executive director of the Lake City Development Corp., or Steve Griffitts, president of Jobs Plus.
Griffitts looked over the report and found some of the conclusions to be based on information the organization didn’t even have in its data base.
One of the "weaknesses" listed in the report was Idaho’s recycling rate, which placed them in 46th position, along with four other states, in spite of not including supporting data.
"There is a credibility question," said Griffitts.
He and others agree some of the problem areas cited in the report are true, such as average pay. One blamed that on layoffs in high-paying industries.
"The tech wreck, layoffs and closures in the forest products industry had an impact," said Alan Porter, Department of Commerce information services manager. "We’re starting to see some positive signs."
He said the report has limited value.
"These rating schemes are out there, but don’t necessarily tell you a lot about what is happening in the states," said Porter. "They’re trying to sell their services. This is a way to get press attention."
The report does rate Idaho tops in manufacturing investment and patents issued. In long-term employment growth, the state ranks sixth. Energy is another strong point of Idaho, which ranks third in energy costs and fifth for renewable energy.
Reasonable urban housing and energy costs are given as reasons people are moving to Idaho, which is close to the top in home ownership at 73 percent.
Porter said the organization targets legislators for sale of its services. Its research director confirms that.
"The economy is not a force of nature that cannot be harnessed," said Schweke. "There are things state policy makers and economic developers can do to make sure that economic decisions help working families and those who are trying to find work."
The report lists six steps that state policymakers and economic developers can take:
• Understand that investments in education, health, natural resources and research/innovation are part of comprehensive, effective approaches to growing the state’s economic internal market.
• Make resources available to groom entrepreneurs and help them grow their fledgling businesses. Don’t make stereotypical assumptions about who can be successful in business; lucrative ventures are started by nontraditional entrepreneurs every day.
• Help existing businesses modernize and stay competitive.
• Work to build the assets, not just incomes, of the families in the state.
• Address the unique needs of dislocated workers and businesses in disinvested communities; respond immediately, and encourage nontraditional approaches such as long-term educational support for retraining older workers.
• Stop giving away the state’s tax base to attract jobs that may not last and may not provide real, adequate wages and benefits for working families.
Both of the Department of Commerce representatives agreed work needs to be done, and that steps have been taken to improve the state’s economy, such as strategies to improve technology transfer and Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s trade missions.
Griffitts called the report "fascinating," but said one reason Jobs Plus is in business is to improve some of the problems that they all acknowledge.
"They might be shooting Howitzers at gnats," he said.
Information: http://www.drc.cfed.org
http://www.cdapress.com/articles/2003/11/16/business/bus02.txt
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